The U.S. State Department has called for an end to violence in the West Bank after clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen in the Jenin camp which resulted in the death of 10 Palestinians on Thursday.
It comes as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected in Israel next week.
The hostilities erupted when hundreds of Israeli forces entered the Palestinian city to apprehend an Islamic Jihad terror cell that was planning imminent large-scale attacks. Palestinian gunmen fired heavy fire at the soldiers, prompting them to retaliate. An elderly woman was killed by a stray bullet, a collateral victim of the exchange of fire.
In retaliation for these events described as a “massacre” by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the PA has announced that it is ending its security collaboration with Israel. This is not the first time that Ramallah has taken such a measure, without having any real effects on the ground. At the same time, Hamas and Islamic Jihad promised that these deaths would not go unpunished. In this context, Israel therefore expects a possible escalation of violence which could manifest itself in the firing of rockets.
The head of American diplomacy will visit Egypt on Sunday, then Israel and the West Bank, the State Department announced on Thursday. He will travel first to Cairo on January 29 and 30, where he will notably have a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, then to Jerusalem, where he will meet Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, according to a press release which specifies that he will also visit Ramallah.
Blinken will stress “the urgent need for the parties to take steps to de-escalate tensions to end the cycle of violence that has claimed the lives of too many innocent people,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said. -i24 News
Please remove the picture of democrat Ned Price. It’s assur to look at the face of a rasha.
Never bothered the State Dept when buses were being blown up.
Easy speaking from 6000 miles away
There were clashes between law enforcement agents an cold blooded murderers
End the violence in all us cities with a one-sided cease-fire police operations should be halted for 24 hours as a sign of goodwill to the criminal elements in the US cities they will definitely reciprocate. Violence is not an answer to violence.
Where? In Chicago?
State Department spokesman Nerd Price. What a Dork.