Dubai: Amid spiralling violence in Palestinian territories that showed no signs of slowing, the UN Security Council was set to meet on Tuesday following an urgent request from the UAE to discuss the matter.
“In light of the alarming developments in the situation in the West Bank, the UAE has urgently called for the Security Council to convene in closed consultations tomorrow, 28 February.”
Also on Monday, Tor Wennesland, UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, called for “all perpetrators of violence” to be held “accountable.”
Biden administration officials, meanwhile, said Israel must hold settler vigilantes accountable for torching of Palestinian homes and cars in the Huwara area in the West Bank, as the Security Council prepared to hold a closed-door session Tuesday on the matter.
“We expect the Israeli government to ensure full accountability and legal prosecution of those responsible for these attacks, in addition to compensation for the lost homes and property,” US State Department Spokesman Ned Price said in a sharply worded statement on Monday afternoon.
A suspected Palestinian gunman on Monday shot and killed an Israeli-American motorist in the occupied West Bank, a day after two Israelis were killed by a Palestinian gunman in the northern West Bank, triggering a rampage in which Israeli settlers torched dozens of cars and homes in a Palestinian town and one Palestinian was killed. It was the worst such violence in decades.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, the most right-wing in Israel’s history, came under criticism for its failure to halt the violence.
On Sunday, Jordan, with US envoys, hosted a rare meeting where Israeli and Palestinian officials pledged a slowdown in Jewish settlement announcements by the Netanyahu government and reaffirmed past peace accords.
