2:38PM AUGUST 6, 2023 (The Australian, 7/8/2023)
A former aide of a MP from Israel’s hard-right governing coalition was among two settlers arrested on Saturday over the killing of a 19-year-old Palestinian in the West Bank.
Qusai Jamal Maatan was shot dead in Burqah, east of Ramallah, on Friday as armed settlers clashed with villagers.
The UN has warned of a dramatic spike in such cases since the most right-wing government in Israel’s history took power at the end of last year.
Israeli media reported that the main suspect in the deadly shooting had sustained injuries in the clashes and was admitted to hospital. The second suspect had acted as spokesman to a member of parliament from the Jewish Power party, whose leader Itamar Ben-Gvir is public security minister in the coalition government.
Police said a remand hearing was to be held in Jerusalem to extend the custody of the two suspects.
Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh called on the international community to blacklist Jewish Power as a terrorist organisation in a post on Twitter, rebranded X.
Mr Ben-Gvir was charged more than 50 times in his youth with incitement to violence or hate speech and was convicted in 2007 of supporting a terrorist group and inciting racism.
Late on Friday Palestinian militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, called for revenge for Maatan’s murder at the hands of a “settler gang”.
A shooting in Israel’s commercial hub Tel Aviv critically wounded a man on Saturday, authorities said, with police reporting the suspected assailant was shot by an armed municipal officer. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Since early last year, the West Bank has suffered a string of attacks by Palestinians on Israeli targets, as well as violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities and regular raids by Israeli forces who say they are pursuing militants.
Violence this year linked to the conflict has killed at least 207 Palestinians, 27 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian.