The head of the EU Police Support Mission in the Palestinian Territories (EUPOL COPPS), Nataliya Apostolova, warned on Monday 6 March of a possible increase in violence during the upcoming religious holidays, saying that violence was one of the biggest challenges in the Near East.
In recent days, attacks by Palestinians, Israeli settlers and deadly incursions by the Israeli armed forces in broad daylight have increased.
In 2022, more than 150 people were killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank, including 30 children, which the highest number since the end of the second Intifada in 2005. And the beginning of 2023 has given little hope. As of 12 March, 80 Palestinians have already lost their lives, including women and children, as have 14 Israelis.
On Friday 10 March, the EU condemned the terrorist attack in the heart of Tel Aviv the previous day for which Hamas claimed responsibility, which left three people injured. “This senseless act demonstrates once again the urgency of stopping the cycle of violence and de-escalating the situation”, warned the European External Action Service spokesperson.
“The challenge is becoming even bigger, Ramadan is starting soon and this year, unfortunately, from a security point of view, it coincides with Jewish festivities. Both sides wish to visit the Al Aqsa Mosque and its surroundings to pray. This is of course going to pose a lot of security challenges”, Ms Apostolova told a group of European journalists visiting Ramallah, including EUROPE. The Israeli Civil Administration in the Palestinian Territories (COGAT) has already introduced movement restrictions between the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Palestinians also face increasing violence from some settlers. “Every single settler has a machine gun. And all settlers, without exception, serve in the army. So the distance between a settler and a soldier is zero. They’re the same”, said Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, during a meeting on Wednesday 8 March with European journalists, including EUROPE.
And according to an international source, the Israeli armed forces are more often using weapons with lethal ammunition in their interventions in Palestine.
Mustapha Barghouti, a politician and president of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS), said the events in Huwara on 26 February, in which Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian homes and businesses (see EUROPE 13138/18), were a “real threat of what can happen to Palestinians”. In his view, this is not a coincidence and could happen again.
A few days after the events, the Israeli Minister of Finance, who is also in charge of civil affairs in the West Bank within the Ministry of Defence, Bezalel Smotrich, said that Israel had to annihilate Huwara. This statement was denounced by the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Moreover, for the head of the EUPOL COPPS mission, the settlers’ violence is a “disturbance” not only for the Palestinian side, but also for the Israeli side, which has to bring order and “put limits on the settlers in what they are doing”.
The participants in the Aqaba agreements are due to meet again in the next few days in Egypt to discuss security issues. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)