Ramallah: Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians early Sunday in separate clashes that erupted as they carried out fresh arrests in the Occupied West Bank. Their deaths raised to four the number of Palestinians killed since the Israeli army began a crackdown in the area alleging Hamas were responsible for kidnapping three Israelis. Israel has said the objective of “Operation Brother’s Keeper” is to bring the teens home safe while dealing a crushing blow to the West Bank infrastructure of its Islamist nemesis. So far, the army has arrested more than 340 Palestinians, around two thirds of them members of the Islamist movement. The teens’ seizure has been condemned by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who however on Sunday questioned why Israeli “The kidnapping of the colonists is an excuse that had fallen on Israel and Netanyahu from Heaven,” said Talal Okal, a Palestinian political analyst and commentator. “Israel had shut up the mouths of the Israeli opposition and the international community and got Israeli partially from its isolation.”
Okal believes that the entire situation is meant to prepare the circumstances for the resumption of the peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel. “All the parties however had lost a lot under the current circumstances,” he told Gulf News, adding that Israel had lost as a country which provides its colonists with the necessary protection where Israel’s reputation had suffered serious damages. The PNA had lost with the spreading demonstrations against its security coordination with Israel where the PNA reputation among the Palestinians had reached the minimum as an authority which not only incapable of protecting its citizens but also an authority which coordinates with Israel. Hamas also lost is infrastructure and cadre in the West Bank. “Had Israel been able to end up the operation and return the three missing colonists home safely, Israel would not has asked for the help of the PNA,” he said. “This is an Israeli security failure which the Israeli citizens cannot forgive nor forget.”
“Israel should come to the conclusion that it will never enjoy security without the PNA enjoying even better security,” he said. “The internal situation in Israel will explode any moment.”
Okal said that the problem with the Palestinians is that they do not organize their work together with the total absence of coordination among the Palestinian factions. “The Palestinians under the current circumstances stand in urgent need for the valuable international rhetoric and actions,” he said. “The party that invests the ongoing conditions the best possible way will gain a lot.”
Okal has categorically rejected the Palestinian military response to the Israeli raids and excessive use of force, terming it as inappropriate at the time being. “The organized military response to the Israeli raids will not be in the higher interests of the Palestinian people for the time being,” he said.
He dismissed the possibility that there had been no kidnapping. “There is no place for such a play in Israel and the price for such a play would have so heavy that no government would stand,” he said. “The missing of the colonists could be kidnapping; could be fleeing from the military service and could be a criminal background,” he said, adding that Israel however had taken advantage of the incident and invest it.
“Israel is waging a war in the West Bank and Israel at the same time is preparing Gaza Strip,” he said. “Unless the Palestinians invest that in the international arena the best possible way, Israelis operation will last for longer time.”
“The results and consequences are not guaranteed for Israel at all, depending on the attitude of the Palestinian leadership,” he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not condemned the bloodshed triggered by the manhunt. “I said the kidnapping was a crime, but does that justify the killing of ... Palestinian teens in cold blood?” Abbas said in an interview with Haaretz newspaper, referring to the deaths of two young Palestinians. “What does Netanyahu have to say about the killings? Does he condemn it? Look at what’s happened all over the West Bank over the past days, the violence and the destruction of homes,” he said. “Is that justified?” He accused Israel of collective punishment of Palestinians.
With the search entering its 10th day, clashes broke out in the northern cities of Nablus and Ramallah as troops went in to carry out arrests, sources on both sides said.
Troops in Ein Beit Al Mai refugee camp in western Nablus shot dead 27-year-old Ahmad Fahnawi as he was on his way to a mosque for morning prayers as clashes were taking place.
Palestinian security sources said he was hit by four bullets, while family members told AFP he was mentally challenged.
The Israeli army confirmed firing at a man, saying he had approached troops “in a threatening manner”. When he failed to respond to warning shots fired in the air, they fired towards him.
“Initial inquiry suggests that the suspect was mentally unstable,” a military statement said.
Also early on Sunday, Israeli troops shot dead 30-year-old Mohammad Tarifi during clashes that lasted for hours in the centre of Ramallah, the West Bank’s political capital, Palestinian medics said.
Five others were also wounded during the incident, they said. The army had no immediate comment.
In West Bank clashes earlier in the week, troops shot dead two young Palestinians and a third was left fighting for his life.
On Monday, troops in Jalazun camp near Ramallah shot dead 19-year-old Ahmad Arafat Sabarin, and on Friday, Mohammad Dudin, 14, was killed in Dura near Hebron.
Another 20-year-old Palestinian who was shot during clashes at Qalandiya near Ramallah is fighting for his life in Occupied Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital.
Israel has seized on the opportunity afforded by the operation to try to drive a wedge between Abbas and Hamas, who recently agreed on an interim government of technocrats, ending seven years of separate administrations in the West Bank and Gaza.
Although Abbas has condemned those behind the teens’ disappearance, he said he had seen no evidence Hamas was responsible, as Israel claims.
“I have no credible information that Hamas was behind the kidnapping,” Abbas told Haaretz.
Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes struck targets in southern and central Gaza overnight after three rockets struck southern Israel during the evening, an army statement said.
Since the teenagers disappeared, Gaza militants have fired more than 22 rockets at Israel. Of these, 11 struck Israeli territory, three were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system and the rest landed in Palestinian territories, the army said.
