Published: 18 November 2022
Last updated: 5 March 2024
Settlers respond with 20 attacks in less than 48 hours; Netanyahu agrees to legalise West Bank outposts.
Three Israelis were killed and three others seriously injured in a terror rampage in the West Bank city of Ariel on Tuesday.
The lone attacker was identified as 18-year-old Muhammed Soof, a cleaner in the Ariel industrial zone.
Following the attack, IDF troops raided the terrorist’s village and home, arresting several members of his family.
On Wednesday, the military’s liaison to the Palestinians said it had revoked the entry permits to Israel from hundreds of family members of the terrorist.
About 20 incidents of violence against Palestinians and Israeli soldiers in the West Bank have been reported since the deadly terror attack at Ariel.
According to the Israeli security establishment, stone-throwing incidents account for most of the reported attacks. But in one incident, near the West Bank settlement of Shavei Shomron, northwest of Nablus, a Palestinian truck driver was attacked and his vehicle set on fire.
The violence comes as incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to retroactively legalise dozens of illegal West Bank outposts, sometimes known as “young settlements,” within 60 days of the government being sworn in.
The deal would change the 2005 Disengagement Law in a way that would allow the legalisation of the controversial Homesh outpost and yeshiva in the West Bank.
The announcement came after Netanyahu met with Itamar Ben-Gvir, with Likud stating afterward that the pair made “significant advancements” towards a coalition agreement.
But even if such “advancements” are entered into a coalition agreement, there is no guarantee they would pass in the Knesset.
