Israel cracks down on Palestinians with sweeping ‘collective punishment’ measures

Palestinian activists and politicians accuse Israeli government of escalating conflict in the wake of Tel Aviv shooting that killed four Israelis.

A Palestinian family argues with Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint in Yatta on June 9, 2016, after the military announced that it would not allow any Palestinians to leave or enter the West Bank town. Abed Al Hashlamoun/EPAShow less

Israel imposed a series of sweeping restrictions on Palestinian movement on Thursday, including the suspension of special Ramadan permits, following a shooting at a Tel Aviv cafe that killed four Israelis.

The military also said it would deploy hundreds of additional troops to the West Bank, while defence minister Avigdor Lieberman ordered that the bodies of all alleged Palestinian attackers or would-be attackers not be returned for burial.

Israeli police said two Palestinian men in their twenties were behind Wednesday’s attack in Tel Aviv. One of the men was arrested, while the other was wounded by Israeli gunfire and had undergone surgery.

The pair are members of the same family from the West Bank “village” of Yatta, police said, claiming that the men had entered Israel illegally.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement on Thursday condemning violence against civilians.

“The presidency has repeatedly emphasised that it stands against attacks on civilians, regardless of their sources or justifications,” said Mr Abbas. “Achieving just peace and creating a positive atmosphere is the way to ease tension and end violence.”

More than 200 Palestinians have been killed in a wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence that began at the start of last October. Thirty-two Israelis have been killed in the same time period.

"[Wednesday]'s shooting in Tel Aviv resulted in first Israeli fatalities at hands of Palestinians since February (a US citizen killed in March)," Ben White, a writer and analyst specialising in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and a contributor to The National, tweeted on Thursday.

“In [approximately] the same time period (late February to date), there have been 30 Palestinian fatalities at the hands of Israeli occupation forces.”

Cogat, the Israeli military body responsible for civilian affairs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, said that 83,000 permits for Palestinians in the West Bank to visit relatives in Israel had been frozen. Special Ramadan permits were also suspended for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to visit relatives in Israel, travel abroad and attend prayers at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

In addition, the military said it had frozen Israeli work permits for 205 of the attackers’ relatives and was preventing Palestinians from leaving and entering Yatta, located near the West Bank city of Hebron. Though Israel refers to Yatta as a village it is actually a town with a 130,000-strong population.

“It is necessary to carry out preventive treatment there [at Yatta] at the root that will be remembered in history,” said Israeli transport minister Yisrael Katz. “It should be closed for a protracted period.”

Yatta mayor Musa Makhamrah said this would only “increase the anger” in the town, however.

“I am against the killing of Palestinians and of Israelis,” he said, but “you have to end the occupation to end the cycle of violence”.

The Israeli military was also making preparations to demolish the family home of one of the alleged attackers, a tactic that is criticised by the Palestinians and human rights groups as collective punishment.

In addition, the military announced it was deploying two additional battalions to the West Bank “in accordance with situation assessments”.

The deployment, involving hundreds of troops, includes soldiers from infantry and special forces units.

Palestinian activists and politicians slammed Israel’s response to Wednesday’s shooting, accusing the Israeli government of escalating the conflict.

“People are very sad and very disappointed about losing their opportunity to visit Jerusalem during Ramadan. It’s a collective punishment,” said Issa Amro, a political activist in Hebron, a flashpoint for violence between the Israelis and Palestinians.

“Many people are angry about this. The Israelis are escalating the situation more and more.”

“It’s not a favour they give us to go to Al Aqsa,” he added. “[The Israelis] are using the permits as a kind of revenge and saying ‘you are punished’ even if you did not participate in what happened.”

Meanwhile, Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian legislator and head of the Palestinian National Initiative political grouping, said the new restrictions were “collective punishments that do not solve the problem, they merely enhance and aggravate the oppression of occupation”.

“East Jerusalem’s economy depends completely on this month [Ramadan],” Mr Barghouti said.

Israel’s restrictions have had “a negative moral effect, a negative effect on freedom to practice religion but also a disastrous effect on the Palestinian economy in Jerusalem and the West Bank”, he said.

* With reporting from Ben Lynfield in Jerusalem, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse