West Bank - The African Mirror

Mar

2023

A new intifada? Young Palestinian fighters rise as West Bank boils

ALI SAWAFTA and JAMES MACKENZIE BEFORE a group of young men from Aqabat Jabr refugee camp mounted a botched attack on a restaurant in Jericho popular with Israeli settlers in January, they declared allegiance to Hamas. That was a surprise to their families - and to Hamas. "They weren't members of Al Qassam until that moment," said Wael Awdat, father of Ibrahim and Rafat, two members of the group, using the name of the armed wing of Hamas. "They had a normal life. This was something personal." Their story illustrates the complex mix of spontaneous action and association between established…

Feb

2023

By The African Mirror

Israel’s Netanyahu pledges more action against Palestinian attackers

WORLD

PRIME Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a stronger Israeli response in dealing with a spate of Palestinian attacks in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, as pressure swelled within his right-wing government to employ more severe tactics. His remarks came two days after a car-ramming attack in the Jerusalem outskirts killed three Israelis and two weeks after a lone Palestinian gunman killed seven people outside a synagogue, adding to rising anxiety in Israel over security. Tensions are also high in the West Bank, where Israeli forces have carried out hundreds of arrests in recent months during near-daily raids that have seen…

Jan

2023

By The African Mirror

Analysis: Israel and Palestinians risk deeper conflict in a distracted world

WORLD

HENRIETTE CHACAR and NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI AFTER the bloodshed in Jerusalem and the West Bank and a month since Israel's most right-wing government took office, Israel and the Palestinians risk sliding into a cycle of wider confrontation with pressure on both sides for retaliation, analysts say. A Palestinian gunman shot dead seven people near a synagogue in Jerusalem's outskirts on Friday evening, a day after Israeli forces carried out a raid on the occupied West Bank city of Jenin which killed 10 people including seven gunmen. Israel said on Saturday it was sending army reinforcements to the West Bank and promised…

Jan

2023

By The African Mirror

Seven killed in synagogue attack as West Bank violence spirals

WORLD

JAMES MACKENZIE and NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI A gunman killed at least seven people and wounded 10 others in a synagogue on the outskirts of Jerusalem in an attack that heightened fears of a spiral in violence, a day after the deadliest Israeli raid in the West Bank in years. Police said the gunman arrived at around 8.15 p.m. and opened fire, hitting a number of people before he was killed by police. TV footage showed several victims lying in the road outside the synagogue being tended to by emergency workers. The attack, which police described as a "terrorist incident", underlined fears…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

Israel, West Bank on edge after more bloodshed

WORLD

JEFFREY HELLER ISRAELI forces killed two Palestinian women after one ran towards troops and the other stabbed a soldier in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank, Israeli security officials said. The bloodshed follows a string of deadly Arab attacks in Israel. There have also been Israeli raids in and around the West Bank city of Jenin, a militant stronghold, against what Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has called "a new wave of terrorism". No weapon was found on the body of the woman shot in Bethlehem after she ignored soldiers' calls and warning fire to stop approaching, the Israeli military…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

Israeli forces kill Palestinian militant in West Bank clash

WORLD

ALI SAWAFTA ISRAELI soldiers killed a Palestinian militant in clashes that broke out in the occupied West Bank during a raid in the hometown of a gunman who had carried out a deadly shooting attack in Tel Aviv, Israeli and Palestinian sources said. Israeli-Palestinian tensions have soared in the run-up to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, with both sides warning against escalation. Deadly incidents have since surged. The Palestinian Health Ministry said 13 people were wounded in Saturday's exchange of fire in the city of Jenin. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed the man killed was a member of the…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Former UN rights boss to head probe into Israel, Hamas alleged crimes

HUMAN RIGHTS

FORMER United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay will head an international commission of inquiry into alleged crimes committed during the latest conflict between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, the U.N.'s Human Rights Council has announced. The council agreed in late May to launch the investigation with a broad mandate to probe all alleged violations, not just in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, but also in Israel during hostilities that were halted by a May 21 ceasefire. Outgoing U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay talks during an interview to Reuters in her office in Geneva August…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Palestinian woman shot after attacking Israeli troops – army

WORLD

ISRAEL troops yesterday shot a Palestinian motorist who tried to ram them in the occupied West Bank and then brandished a knife, the Israeli military said. The Palestinian health ministry said the woman had died of her injuries. There was no word of Israeli casualties. The incident follows a rise in tensions after a Jewish nationalist march in Jerusalem on Tuesday drew the launch of incendiary balloons across the Gaza border and retaliatory Israeli air strikes. The Israeli military said the Palestinian woman "attempted to ram into a number of IDF (Israel Defence Forces) soldiers" near the Palestinian village of…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Israel’s odd couple: rivals who could topple Netanyahu together

WORLD

MAAYAN LUBELL ONE is a centre-left avowed secularist who says the Palestinians should get a state. The other is a firebrand of the religious hard right who wants to annex most of the occupied West Bank. Meet the men from Israel's opposite political poles who could topple Benjamin Netanyahu. If Israel's longest serving prime minister is brought down after four inconclusive elections in two years, it will not be because his opponents rallied the nation behind a new political programme. It will be because two men who agree on little else have decided to make a deal. After Netanyahu failed…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Israel to halt Palestinian land annexation in historic deal with UAE

WORLD

MAHA EL DAHAN, JEFFREY HELLER and STEVE HOLLAND ISRAEL and the United Arab Emirates have announced an agreement that will lead to a full normalization of diplomatic relations between the two states, a move that reshapes the order of Middle East politics from the Palestinian issue to Iran. Under the accord, which U.S. President Donald Trump helped broker, Israel has agreed to suspend annexing areas of the occupied West Bank as it had been planning to do, White House officials said. It also firms up opposition to regional power Iran, which the UAE, Israel and the United States view as…