Palestinian Authority officer turns his gun on Israel

Mourners carry the body of Amjad Sukkar during the man’s funeral on 1 February, a day after he opened fire on Israeli soldiers and was shot dead at a checkpoint near Ramallah.
Nedal EshtayahAPA images

Maureen Clare Murphy

1 February 2016

After a Palestinian Authority staff sergeant was shot dead when he allegedly opened fire on and wounded three Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint on Sunday, Israel’s leading newspaper described the incident as “the nightmare scenario that has worried Israel for months.”

Israel has since put the Ramallah area of the occupied West Bank, where the incident took place, under indefinite closure.

The incident will deepen the divide between Israel’s political leadership and its military, which have failed to find consensus on how to respond to four months of sharply increased and unending deadly confrontation between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers and settlers.

“The terrorist gets his salary from the Palestinian Authority – they are behind the incitement that motivates terror against Israel,” Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Sunday.

“Abbas did not condemn the attack carried out by one of his men. While Israel is fighting terrorism, the international community must stop the hypocrisy and demand that the Palestinian Authority stop incitement that fans the flames of terrorism,” the Israeli prime minister added.

Sunday’s deadly incident took place at the Beit El settlement near Ramallah, the seat of the PA.

Built on Palestinian land, Beit El houses the Israeli Civil Administration, the bureaucratic arm of the military occupation, and its district office. It has been a site of regular confrontation by Palestinian youths protesting against both the Israeli occupation and the PA’s security coordination with Israel.

PA forces have at times forcibly dispersed those demonstrations, and Israel has used live fire against protesting youth at Beit El, killing two, one of them a child.

Netanyahu has previously blamed media incitement and PA leader Mahmoud Abbas for the alleged attacks at settlements and checkpoints, while the Israeli military and intelligence establishment maintains that continued security coordination with the PA is essential for preventing a further escalation of violence.

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