Palestine urges US intervention to halt Israeli assaults

By Qais Abu Samra

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – The Palestinian Authority (PA) on Thursday called for US intervention to halt Israeli assaults amid rising tensions across the occupied West Bank.

An Israeli soldier was killed and five other people injured early Thursday when a Palestinian driver rammed his truck into a group of soldiers near a military checkpoint in Ramallah city.

The attack came amid repeated Israeli military raids into Palestinian towns and attacks by Jewish settlers who are usually guarded by the Israeli army.

"The Israeli occupation government bears the full responsibility for the current dangerous situation,” PA spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement.

He warned that Israeli practices, including killings, detentions and storming holy sites “will have dangerous repercussions for everyone because the Palestinian people and their leadership will not stand idly by.”

The Palestinian spokesman cautioned that the Israeli practices “aim to explode the situation and drag it into a spiral of violence and escalation.”

More than 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of this year, according to the Health Ministry. At least 35 Israelis have also been killed in Palestinian attacks during the same period, the highest toll since 2005.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara