Israeli Defense Minister Calls On All Parties To Refrain As Tensions Rise In The West Bank

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. (Wikimedia Commons/men's

JAKARTA - Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday called on all parties to refrain from calm, when visiting the site of a deadly attack by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in West Bank City, Hawaii, as several government members expressed their support for the violence.

Hundreds of settlers attacked Palestinian shops, cars and houses in the city, leaving one person dead and more than 100 injured in attacks condemned by the international community.

The attack came after the killing of two Israelis by a Palestinian gunman.

"I call on everyone to restore calm," Gallant said, as reported by The National News on February 27.

"It is not legal or possible to operate individually," he said.

However, in contrast to Gallant's statement, National Security Committee Head Zvika Fogel said Israel should "releasing gloves".

"I want to restore security for the Israeli citizen," he said.

"How do we do it? We stop using the word 'proportionality'. We stop with our objections to collective punishment. Yesterday, a terrorist came from Hawara. Closed and burned. That's what I want to see. That's the only way to achieve prevention... we need to burn villages when (the military) doesn't act," he explained.

The difference between calls for calm from the Gallant and calls for armslifting from Fogel, highlights the divisions within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, one of the far-right governments in Israeli history.

This also indicates a rift that arises between the state security agency and elements of government.

This month, Israeli media quoted a senior unnamed government source as condemning National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's call for a massive operation in East Jerusalem.

"A decision on such a scale was not made in a minister or other minister's statement on the sidewalk at the site of the attack," the source quoted him as saying.

Sunday's events have also raised concerns within Israel that radical groups in the country's society are becoming increasingly bold by the new government and its confrontational agenda.

On Monday, security forces began disbanding people from Evyatar's outpost in the West Bank after hundreds of settlers occupied it overnight in response to the killing of the two Israeli brothers.

While visiting the shooting site, Gallant said that the country faces "difficult days in the future".

Separately, the Israeli military said it would "strengthen" the West Bank by "two additional battalions" and expand "security checks on routes leading inside and out (Nablus)".

Meanwhile, the United States is calling for immediate de-escalation in the region.

"We condemn today's violence in the West Bank, including terrorist attacks that killed two Israelis and the violence of settlers, resulting in the death of a Palestinian, injuring more than 100 others, and the destruction of property," said US State Department spokesman Ned Price.

"This development underscores the importance of immediately easing tensions in words and actions. The United States will continue to work closely with Israelis and Palestinians as well as our regional partners to restore calm," Price said.

Israel's occupied West Bank is home to about 2.9 million Palestinians, as well as about 475,000 Jewish settlers, who live in colonies deemed illegal under international law.