Some 300 Palestinians were wounded and one was killed in clashes with Israeli and Palestinian security forces in Ramallah over the weekend, following a week in which Palestinian attacks took the lives of two Israeli soldiers and an Israeli baby and Israeli forces killed four suspected Palestinian assailants. On Dec. 15, Israeli forces demolished the home of a Palestinian charged with killing an Israeli soldier in May. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said demolitions will continue in response to the recent violence.
“Not only did the attacks exact a heavy toll in human lives, the presence of an organized, trained and determined terror cell running around the Palestinian city of Ramallah under the noses of the Palestinian security forces, the Shin Bet and IDF with its various counterterrorism means should set off alarm bells in Jerusalem,” writes Ben Caspit. “The daring of its members who succeeded, at the height of Israel’s military readiness with its forces fully deployed, to take down three soldiers and flee unharmed shook up the top echelons of the IDF. Almost all agree that the latest developments do not augur well. Netanyahu could soon discover the downside of the defense minister’s job he took on himself almost a month ago.”
“Many Palestinians believe that the heavy-handed Israeli army incursion into the center of Ramallah on Dec. 10 is the most important reason behind this escalation,” writes Daoud Kuttab. “While the Oslo Accord forbids Israeli soldiers from unilaterally entering areas that are under full Palestinian security and administrative control — known as ‘Area A’ — Israeli security forces have repeatedly breached that agreement.”
“Eyewitnesses told Al-Monitor that a very large army convoy entered Ramallah Dec. 10 and headed for the offices of the Palestinian News Agency WAFA, which is located a few hundred yards from the home of President Mahmoud Abbas and across the street from the official Palestinian presidential headquarters, Al-Muqata,” adds Kuttab. “The Israelis barged into the state-run news agency and confiscated copies of the security camera footage. Israel says it was searching for a car that reportedly drove by that location and was most probably in the camera archives. The sought-after driver had participated in a drive-by shooting Dec. 9 that left seven Israelis injured.”
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