Israel security agency calls for closures of some West Bank towns

The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) has recommended imposing closures on West Bank Palestinian towns and villages where militants are active.

A security official said in a statement, “the situation is getting out of control and therefore new actions need to be taken”.

Under the prosed plan, Israeli troops would check vehicles and pedestrians at the entrances and exits of these areas.

The proposal came after an Israel army officer and two Palestinians were killed in an exchange of fire in the northern West Bank in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

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The firefight occurred after the two men approached Israel’s West Bank security barrier close to the West Bank city of Jenin. Palestinian sources identified one of the men as a member of the Palestinian security forces intelligence branch.

Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid said Israel will not hesitate to act in areas where the Palestinian Authority (PA) fails to maintain order.

Tensions are high in the area as the Israeli army has increased its pressure on the northern West Bank with nightly raids to arrest militants and prevent Palestinians from illegally crossing into Israel. The raids began after 18 people were killed in attacks inside Israel in March.

Eighty one Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank so far this year, making it the deadliest year since 2015. Seventy-eight of the 81 were shot by Israeli security forces while three were killed by Israeli civilians.

Iyad Hadad, a field researcher in Ramallah for the B’Tselem human rights group, told the Haaretz newspaper that the surge in the number of dead can largely be attributed to the increase in military raids throughout the West Bank.

“There are significantly more raids in areas under Palestinian control. Not a day passes without reports of army raids on Palestinian cities,” he said.

Palestinian officials have warned that the daily Israeli raids are undermining the stability of the PA and the standing of president Mahmoud Abbas, but Israel blames the PA for failing to impose law and order in areas under its control, allowing militants gangs to control the streets, particularly in Jenin and Nablus in the northern West Bank.

Senior Israeli and Palestinian officials met secretly last week in an attempt to reach agreements that would allow for the restoration of Israel-Palestinian security co-operation in northern West Bank but no significant progress was made.

Mr Lapid held a situation assessment meeting on Wednesday that focused on the escalating violence in and around the West Bank, and on Israeli preparations for the Jewish High Holidays, which begin later this month.

Of particular concern to the Israeli defence establishment is the fear that Jewish extremists might dress up as Arabs during the holiday period in order to visit the flashpoint Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City, known to Muslims as the Haram el-Sharif. Security officials said that if a Muslim person was discovered to be a Jew in disguise, the situation could spin out of control.