Israeli Collective Punishment May Push Palestinians Into More Terror [View all]
Source: Haaretz, written by Amos Harel
Benjamin Netanyahu has to deal with squads using improvised weapons, teens taking knives from their parents’ kitchens, and social media.
The escalation in Palestinian terror – the murder of 13-year-old Hallel Ariel, the murder of Michael Mark and the wounding of his wife and two of his children, the stabbing of two people in Netanya and the attempted stabbing at the Tomb of the Patriarchs – all within just over 24 hours has led to a harsher-than-usual response.
The army cordoned off Hebron and the surrounding villages and towns, imposed major restrictions on movement to and from the Hebron area, and announced a mass revocation of work permits for residents of Bani Na’im, where Ariel’s murderer lived.
The Israel Defense Forces stresses context – the manhunt for the perpetrators of the drive-by shooting of the Mark family. Roadblocks and the deployment of two regular army battalions to the Hebron area are meant to help find the killers and increase the settlers’ sense of security.
The success (terrible as it is, the murder of a teenage girl asleep in her bed is described as a success on the Palestinian side) feeds copycats. So troop deployments, arrests and roadblocks are like throwing a blanket over a fire. The question is whether the situation will continue after the drive-by shooters are apprehended.
Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.728541
Note: Haaretz premium article, Google title for access.
= new reply since forum marked as read