Palestinian Officer Killed In Clashes In West Bank, Israeli Military Launches Investigation

Construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. (Wikimedia Commons/Troclaire)

JAKARTA - Israeli forces killed a Palestinian security officer in clashes in the Israeli-occupied city of Jenin, the West Bank on Monday, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said.

The Israeli military said it was investigating the report. Earlier they said in a statement that its troops received gunfire from Palestine while trying to arrest security suspects in Jenin, then returned fire at the gunmen.

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah Party identified the officer as Ashraf Sheikh Ibrahim, saying he had died "during the aggression and invasion of the invaders into the city of Jenin," Reuters reported May 29.

Separately, settlers inaugurated a seminary in the West Bank area that has been the focus of United States surveillance, drawing criticism from Palestine.

In a video posted on social media, settlers leader Yossi Dagan read a Jewish prayer at the entrance to the Homesh seminary school, a large white hut built on the top of the West Bank hill.

"With God's help... there will be more new settlements in northern Samaria," he said, referring to the West Bank with the name mentioned in the Bible.

It is known that peace negotiations led by the United States aimed at establishing Palestinian states in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza failed in 2014, showing no signs of a resurgence. Meanwhile, Israeli-Palestinian violence has increased over the past year.

Most countries consider Israeli settlements illegal, a view Israel denies. Palestinians say settlers eat away at the land they want for a future country, citing the increasing violence perpetrated by settlers.

President Abbas emphasized that Homesh must be removed.

"The condemnation statement is no longer sufficient in dealing with the right-wing government of extremists (Israel)," said his spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh.

In an effort to quell international concerns, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had no intention of building new settlements as its nationalist-religious government had pledged to strengthen existing settlements.

Prime Minister Netanyahu's spokesman, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on whether any of them authorized the founding of the new Homesh seminary.

Last week, Smotrich, leader of the pro-configuration Jewish Zionism party and hold some power in the West Bank, said Homesh had been officially added to the settlement council's land, to draft a new development plan for the seminary school.