Nablus, Palestinian Territories // Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets at Palestinian protesters in the West Bank on Friday, wounding at least 17 people.
Clashes took place near Ramallah and farther north in Nablus, after a new Israeli cabinet took office and as Palestinians marked 67 years since the Nakba, or “catastrophe”, that befell them when Israel was established in 1948. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes. They and their descendants still consider themselves refugees, and their status remains one of the thorniest issues in the decades-long conflict.
At a demonstration outside Ofer military prison near Ramallah, dozens of protesters threw stones at soldiers who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.
Medics said seven Palestinians were wounded.
In separate clashes earlier in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, rubber bullets and live fire by soldiers wounded at least 10 Palestinians, security sources and witnesses said.
The Israeli army confirmed the clashes, but denied that live rounds were fired.
More than 1,000 settlers from nearby Jewish settlements were bused into the city to visit Joseph’s Tomb early in the day, and soldiers blocked off roads leading to the pilgrimage site, Palestinian witnesses and security sources said.
Palestinians protested, some throwing stones, before clashes with the army erupted.
A spokeswoman for the military said soldiers had “escorted” up to 3,000 Jewish visitors to the tomb since Wednesday evening, and that a crowd of about 200 Palestinians had approached the area throwing stones and burning tyres.
Soldiers used “riot dispersal” means, she said.
The clashes took place a day after the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu formed a new right-wing government that Palestinian officials have said pushes the prospects of peace further away than ever.
Soon after its narrow approval by parliament late on Thursday, the new coalition government was warned by Washington that it must forge a deal with the Palestinians for its own good.
Chairing his first cabinet meeting overnight, Mr Netanyahu said his administration would “continue to work for a diplomatic solution [to the Palestinian conflict] while upholding the vital interests and security of the citizens of Israel”.
Like the coalition agreement published this week, it made no mention of the “two-state solution” – the concept of a sovereign Palestinian state alongside Israel which is favoured by the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and the Arab League. On the eve of the March 17 Israeli general election, Mr Netanyahu promised there would be no Palestinian state on his watch, in remarks which triggered a diplomatic backlash. Although he has since sought to backtrack, reviving the peace process is unlikely to be a priority for his new cabinet
The US president Barack Obama pointedly mentioned the issue in remarks shortly after parliament ratified Mr Netanyahu’s government by 61 votes to 59.
“I continue to believe a two-state solution is absolutely vital for not only peace between Israelis and Palestinians, but for the long-term security of Israel as a democratic and Jewish state,” Mr Obama said.
“I know that a government has been formed that contains some folks who don’t necessarily believe in that premise, but that continues to be my premise.”
Mr Netanyahu’s government largely consists of nationalist patrons of West Bank Jewish settlement, the ultra-Orthodox, and opponents of Palestinian statehood.
The EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, will travel to the region next week to meet Mr Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
During her visit on Wednesday and Thursday, she will “discuss bilateral relations as well as prospects for the Middle East peace process”, her office said on Friday.
EU foreign ministers will discuss the region with Ms Mogherini during a regular meeting in Brussels on Monday.
Some European states have grown impatient with Mr Netanyahu, especially over continued expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Some have recently recognised a Palestinian state, although the EU itself says such recognition should follow a negotiated two-state settlement between the two sides.
Agence France-Presse, Associated Press and Reuters
