On February 10, a man rushed by car in a bus stop, killing two and five injured. The Israeli army says it thwart similar attempts around the West Bank Colonies almost every day, while the violence perpetrated by the colonists increase.
by Louis Imbert (Jerusalem, correspondent)
For the second time in two weeks, Israeli civilians suffered an attack in East Jerusalem, shortly before the Shabbat start on Friday, February 10. It is still a distant colony isolated from the northern districts that was targeted, poor and populated by ultra -Orthodox Jews, Ramot.
A Palestinian from East Jerusalem, the part of the city occupied and annexed by Israel, rushed by car in a bus stop, killing two people, including a 6-year-old child. He injured five others. A second child remains in critical condition. On January 27, a previous assailant, also living in Jerusalem, left seven dead in the colony of Neve Yakov, near a synagogue. It was the deadliest attack on Israelis in Jerusalem for almost fifteen years.
multiplication of raids
Since then, Israeli forces feared that this attack inspires new ones. They do not claim to be able to stop all attempts. All the less when led by isolated or fragile individuals. Relatives of Hussein Qaraqe, 31 years old and father of three children, said that he had been released the day before a psychiatric hospital, and that he took a long -standing drug treatment. He was killed by a police officer who was not in service and was in the vicinity. His parents, his wife and some of his relatives were arrested, arousing clashes with the police in their neighborhood.
The army claims to thwart attempts to attack almost daily in nature around the colonies of West Bank, while the violence perpetrated by the Israeli settlers increase. For the past year, Israeli forces have repressed an emerging insurrection in the occupied territories. These operations have killed 43 people since January. The army fears the approach of the Holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which opens on March 22. Israeli opinion still seems to be concerned about this escalation. These violence form a background noise, on which the attack on Friday in Jerusalem suddenly stands out.
In power since December, the government of Benyamin Netanyahu strengthens the army in the West Bank and multiplies the raids. Some of its members also express their ambition to exercise a collective punishment against the Palestinians, after having accused their predecessors of showing “weakness”. The Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, rushed to the scene on Friday. This former far -right lawyer, Jewish supremacist, struggles to get out of his old role as a street agitator and seeks to assert his authority over the high police hierarchy by criticizing it publicly, hot. Overflowing with his duties, he ordered that a new “defense shield” operation be considered in East Jerusalem, named after the military campaign which had overcome the second Intifada (2000-2005).
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