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Settlers protest Israel's authorisation of armoured cars for PA

May 22, 2019 at 11:34 am

Moti Yogev , Knesset member [Miri tzachi/Wikipedia]

Israeli settlers have reacted with anger to the government’s decision to authorise the transfer of ten armoured cars to the Palestinian Authority (PA), reported the Times of Israel.

Authorities approved the move, according to reports yesterday, after years of rejecting such requests. The vehicles, provided by the European Union, entered the West Bank through Jordan.

Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defence minister Avigdor Lieberman approved the transfer over nine months ago at the request of the United States.

According to the Times of Israel, “Israeli settler leaders reacted with outrage to the news”.

Union of Right-Wing Parties MK Moti Yogev tweeted that he has requested an urgent meeting of the Knesset Defence and Foreign Affairs Council, describing the transfer as a “life-endangering crime”.

READ: 13 attacks by Israel settlers on Palestinians over two-week period

Yossi Dagan, head of the so-called Samaria Regional Council, said PA security forces were “terrorists in uniform”, and added that arming them was “utter neglect of human life and an unreasonable risk to the lives of IDF soldiers and the residents of Judea and Samaria [the West Bank]”.

Another settler leader, Yochai Damri, head of Har Hebron Regional Council, said in a statement: “Why do the Palestinians need armoured cars? Who exactly is shooting at them?! We will pay for this wrong decision with the blood of our residents and soldiers.”