June 23 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Israeli authorities have arrested three settlers for their alleged role in recent attacks against cities in the West Bank, which have resulted in at least one Palestinian death and dozens injured, amid an upsurge in violence in the area that has set off the alarms before a possible outbreak of the conflict.
The right-wing Honenu group dedicated to providing legal support to detainees –especially among settlers– has indicated that the suspects were detained by the Shin Bet and has denounced that the authorities have denied them legal support, according to what it has reported. the Israeli television channel Arutz Sheva.
“Until now, I have not been able to give legal advice to the suspects. Despite repeated requests, we have not received the orders (which prevent these meetings), so the detention is illegal,” said lawyer Nati Rom. “We hope that the security forces, and the special forces in particular, will be directed to the fight against our enemies,” he explained.
Thus, he stressed that the Israeli security forces should dedicate themselves to “the fight against the large number of illegal weapons and the many attacks that have been perpetrated recently.” “Perhaps then order will be restored,” she stressed.
The arrests follow a series of raids by settlers in West Bank towns following an attack by two Palestinians near the Eli settlement on Tuesday that killed four Israelis. Among the towns attacked is Turmus Aya, where a Palestinian died and at least 30 houses and dozens of vehicles were set on fire.
The Palestinian media reported on Thursday clashes between settlers and Palestinian residents near the town of Khalud, not far from Eli, while security camera footage of the assault on Wednesday in the town of Urif has been published for the past few hours. where a settler can be seen vandalizing a book in a mosque in the city. Although the media have pointed out that it would be a copy of the Koran, this point has not been confirmed.
Army spokesman Daniel Hagari warned Thursday that the assault on Turmus Aya is an incident that “generates terrorism” and acknowledged in statements given to Army Radio that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “failed to avoid” the incidents, which he described as “very serious. For this reason, he asserted that the Army is carrying out an internal investigation into what happened, he affirmed that lessons will be drawn from the assault. “We will improve,” he settled.
The Palestinian government denounced on Wednesday the attacks perpetrated by settlers against various towns and criticized that “settler militias and their armed terrorist elements” are “expanding” their attacks against “unarmed Palestinian civilians. It also regretted “no lessons have been drawn from the first crime in Huwara”, in reference to the assault perpetrated in February by dozens of settlers against this town, which resulted in one death and about a hundred injured.
Increased tensions in recent months have resulted in the deaths of around 175 Palestinians and 25 Israelis, amid fears of a widespread outbreak of violence. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that “all options are open” amid calls within the government coalition for a large-scale operation in the West Bank.
