West Bank violence in focus as Israeli election nears

Reuters Videos
2 年前

STORY: As an election looms over Israel, escalating violence in the occupied West Bank is front and center.

These are not photos of politicians. Rather, they’re the faces of the more than 100 Palestinians killed this year – most since late March during a crackdown by Israeli police, following a string of fatal street attacks by Palestinians in Israel which killed 19 people.

Ahead of the November 1 election, Prime Minister Yair Lapid has backed a two-state solution with an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, which seized control of the West Bank in the 1967 Middle Eastern war.

But with more and more Israeli settlements being built, Palestinians living in sprawling refugee camps are weary of political solutions.

Rafa Taysser is a Palestinian resident of Nablus.

"The Palestinians and the Palestinian blood are the card used for the past 15 years, since it was used by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his election campaign, by expressing to the Israeli right-wing that he will build more settlements on Palestinian land, and how he will raid cities. It's all at the expense of Palestinian blood. We are freedom fighters but unfortunately the whole world sees us as terrorists. The Palestinian who is now a fighter, aged 20, 22, 25-years-old, didn't yet see a successful political process, he only witnessed killing and raids."

Top of mind for most Israeli voters is the soaring cost of living, according to surveys. Palestinian issues barely register as an election issue, though settlers in the West Bank are calling for a crackdown.

Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, called for action while at a protest after a car was fired on at a settlement near Nablus.

"We are in the midst of a wave of terror courtesy of the terrorist Palestinian Authority and all our government is doing, instead of fighting the terrorism, confiscating weapons, reinstating roadblocks, is writing talk-backs like some pensioner."

While Israeli officials blame the Palestinian Authority, the PA say their hands are tied by Israel.

And despite the growing violence raising international alarm, there are no sign of a wider political solution to the conflict.