As Palestinian leaders were preparing for direct talks with Israeli prime minister Netanyahu in Washington today, the village mayor in the West Bank town of Salfit said that ten armed Israeli settlers opened fire at three Palestinian teenagers.
The attack came as they tended to their land in Deir Istiya on Tuesday.
Village Mayor Nathmi Salman said Yousef Muhammad Al-Qaysi, 17, Sharaf Dawoud Ubeid, 18, and Udayy Azzam Ubeid, 18, were all tending to their land at 7.40am on the northern side of the village when mounted settlers rode past and fired on them.
No injuries or damage were reported in the incident he said, adding that the village is in close proximity to the illegal West Bank settlement of Immanuel, which were built on lands owned by village residents.
Earlier this week, residents of an illegal West Bank settlement attempted on Monday to install additional housing units to its plot, Israel’s Civil Administration confirmed.
A spokesman for Israel’s Civil Administration said three trucks carrying three mobile homes were seen trying to enter the Elon Moreh settlement, amid a government-issued ban on settlement construction set to expire on 26 September.
Inspectors sequestered the trucks, which were held by the Civil Administration, he said on Tuesday.
Palestinian officials reported earlier, that at least five new homes were being constructed in Elon Moreh, in the northern Nablus district, near the Palestinian villages of Azmut and Deir Al-Hatab.
Ghassan Doughlas, who heads the file on northern settlement activity, said settlers were also bulldozing land to make way for electricity poles and lights near the Shifat Gilad outpost, and warned that further settlement activity could ‘blow up’ the direct peace talks set to begin on Thursday.
Several Israeli settlement councils have sought to defy Israel’s ten-month settlement moratorium on West Bank construction, vowing to continue building once the freeze expires on 26 September.
The PLO and PNA (Palestinian National Authority) have urged Israel to extend the freeze and include East Jerusalem in its mandate, warning that continued settlement building could derail talks.
On Monday, President Mahmud Abbas said US and international officials had been notified that ‘Israel will bear sole and full responsibility for the collapse of negotiations should settlement building continue,’ ahead of today’s talks.
On Monday evening, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad apologised for the actions of Palestinian Authority security forces at a conference meant to protest against the PLO’s decision to return to direct peace talks.
‘As prime minister, I am fully responsible for what happened and I apologise,’ Fayyad said during a news conference celebrating the ‘home stretch to freedom’ and the start of the second year of the plan of the 13th government.
‘As I feel sorry when I say that, I feel confident that it will never be repeated,’ he added calling ‘what happened on Wednesday . . . obviously a big error.’
Rights workers, media professionals and politicians said they were harassed, and in some cases assaulted, at what was planned as a moderate-sized conference voicing the opposition of several left-wing political parties, independent parties, and prominent business professionals to the resumption of peace talks.
According to local news reports, dozens of PA security personnel and intelligence officers showed up at the conference at the Protestant Church in Ramallah and attempted to portray the event as a protest against the government.
Footage of the event was reportedly confiscated and several people said they were beaten by plain-clothes security forces.
Police and security officials denied any involvement in the event, which they said was an ‘illegal riot’ that was halted by police. President Mahmud Abbas said earlier that he did not give the orders.
Palestinian President Abbas said on Sunday, just before leaving for Washington for the launch of the direct talks, that Israel alone will bear responsibility should talks collapse due to continued settlement building.
Abbas said during a speech in Ramallah that negotiations will be based on the Mideast Quartet statement emphasising the need to put an end to the occupation in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.
He emphasised that the statement called for an end to the settlements, an end to the occupation, and an end to unilateral moves.
‘I clearly state today that we notified the Americans and international officials that Israel will bear sole and full responsibility for the collapse of negotiations should settlement building continues,’ Abbas said.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, meanwhile, stressed that the decision to renew settlement construction after freeze remains unchanged, leaving question marks on the feasibility of the talks.
He told Likud party ministers on Sunday that he had not made any promises to US President Obama or any other American government official regarding an extension of the settlement construction freeze in the West Bank.
‘We said that the future of the communities will be discussed as one of the elements of a final-status settlement, along with the other issues. We promised nothing on this issue to the Americans.’
Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniya warned ahead of the summit in Washington: ‘These negotiations are a trap for the Palestinian people.
‘The Palestinian people will gain nothing from these talks. And Abu Mazin (Palestinian National Authority President Mahmud Abbas) knows that full well.’
• The Detainees’ Mothers Committee said on Monday that it will spend a night in front of the International Committee of the Red Cross’ headquarters in Gaza City to protest against Israel’s policy of barring Strip residents from visiting detainees.
The mother of detained Ibrahim Baroud said the sit-in will be held a day before Eid begins, the Muslim holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, which is expected around 10 September.
Rafat Hamdounah, the head of the Detainees’ Studies Centre, said dozens of mothers will join the sit-in to ‘express their condemnation of the Israeli Administration’s treatment of them and their sons,’ a statement read.
Hamdounah called for organisations to support the sit-in and for the media to widely cover the issue.
