Netanyahu breaks silence on settler violence but ducks his government’s responsibility

Israel's Prime Minister has finally spoken out against violence towards Palestinians by Jewish extremists in the West Bank, warning that his government “will take very forceful action against the riots against IDF soldiers — against Palestinians, and against IDF soldiers — because we are a nation of laws, and a nation of laws acts in accordance with the law.”

Netanyahu's comments followed closely on concerns expressed by the IDF’s Major-General in charge of Central Command Avi Bluth, who was quoted by the IDF as telling officers that violence by “anarchist fringe youth… must be dealt with firmly.”

But critics say Benjamin Netanyahu’s ulranationalist coalition and security forces are culpable for the increasing violence.

“Established settlement leaders say the violence is wildcat and uncontrolled. Actually it’s part of a systematic operation with its own logic,” says Menachem Klein, emeritus professor of political science at Bar Ilan University.

Klein says the strategy is to make the lives of Palestinians in villages so unlivable that they have to move out of most of the West Bank into its major cities.

The UN’s Office for the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the number of attacks by violent settlers in October was the highest of any single month since it began tracking them in 2006. And there has been no letup during November.

Terror attacks by Palestinians against settlers also continue. On Tuesday, Palestinians killed a resident of the West Bank Jewish town of Kiryat Arba and and wounded three other people at the Gush Etzion junction.