Israeli security forces have killed three Palestinian militants that officials said carried out recent shootings in the West Bank city of Nablus.
The Shin Bet internal security agency said the armed men were killed on Tuesday while they were inside a vehicle during a clash with security forces. No Israelis were harmed in the shooting, it said. The deaths were confirmed by the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Pictures shared online show the three men posing with assault rifles, with one wearing a headband of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a coalition of armed groups loosely tied to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party.
The militant group called the men “heroic martyrs” and vowed revenge in a statement circulated on a Fatah-affiliated social media group. It identified them as Ibrahim Al Nablusi, Adham Mabrouk and Mohammed Al Dakhil.
The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank, condemned the shootings and called for an international investigation.
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz congratulated the security forces and said he had recently ordered that security in the area be stepped up.
“We will continue our proactive operations, and we will thwart and catch anyone who tries to harm human life,” he said.
Recent weeks have seen several stabbing and shooting attacks by Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. An Israeli settler was shot dead near a settlement outpost in December.
Settlers have also carried out a number of attacks against Palestinians and Israeli activists, causing injuries and property damage but no fatalities.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Arab-Israel War. Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state. Nearly 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the territory, alongside more than 2.5 million Palestinians.
The Palestinians view the settlements as the main obstacle to peace and most of the international community considers them illegal. Israel regards the West Bank as the biblical and historical heartland of the Jewish people.
Peace talks ground to a halt more than a decade ago, but the Palestinian Authority and Israel co-operate on security and other matters.
A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
Heather, the Totality
Matthew Weiner,
Canongate
