Tension rises in occupied West Bank after fatal shootings

Tensions continue to rise across the occupied West Bank after a number of shootings and reprisals which started yesterday when Saleh Barghouthi, Ashraf Na’alwa and Majed Matir were shot and killed by Israeli troops in Ramallah, Nablus and Jerusalem respectively.

In response to the killings, Palestinians attacked and killed a number of Israeli settlers and soldiers. Israeli forces then entered the West Bank in even greater numbers and blocked many of the military checkpoints operating in the occupied territory. Several have been closed completely.

READ: Israel shoots dead Palestinian in West Bank

The reprisal shooting took place two kilometres south of the illegal Israeli settlement of Ofra to the east of Ramallah. The Israeli occupation forces have since imposed a military cordon around Ramallah and Al-Bireh, concentrated at their northern entrances.

The shooting incidents coincided with a number of attacks by Israeli settlers in the north of the West Bank, and efforts by Israeli occupation forces to stop Palestinians from protesting in Al-Bireh and Tulkarem.

In a similar vein, the northern West Bank city of Nablus has also witnessed attacks by Israeli settlers, which left two Palestinian men injured.

There’s been an increase in settlers attack against Palestinians which go unpunished – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]