Israeli settlers in the West Bank said yesterday that they will break a government freeze on construction in their communities to protest a Palestinian shooting attack that killed four Israelis on the eve of new peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians in Washington.
The Israelis were killed on Tuesday evening when they drove through the West Bank.
The Yesha Council, which represents the settlers, said in a statement that construction would resume at 6pm yesterday.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“This attack again proved that despite what might be going on in Washington right now, the Palestinians have no goal to create a peaceful state for themselves, but are entirely driven to destroy our State and our people,” Naftali Bennett, Yesha director said.
“We will start work this evening and build all across Judea and Samaria,” Bennett told Israel radio, referring to the West Bank by its Biblical name.
It’s not clear how much the settlers can realistically build before they are stopped by inspectors enforcing the moratorium.
Israel imposed a 10-month freeze on construction in West Bank settlements in an effort to get negotiations with the Palestinians back on track. The moratorium expires on Sept. 26 and the Palestinians say they will withdraw from the peace talks unless it is extended.
Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war and Jewish settlers began building communities in the territory soon after. There are more than 100 settlements in the West Bank today. The future of settlements is one of the toughest issues Israel and the Palestinians will have to deal with in the new round of peace talks.
Palestinians want the West Bank along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem as part of their state.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on Tuesday evening that Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a vehicle traveling near the West Bank city of Hebron — a volatile city that has been a flash point of violence in the past. About 500 ultranationalist Jewish settlers live in heavily fortified enclaves in the city amid more than 100,000 Palestinians.
Israel’s national rescue service said the victims were two men and two women from settlements in the area. Israeli media reported that everyone in the car was killed including a pregnant woman. A total of seven children were orphaned by the attack, according to the reports.
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