US envoy says settler rock throwing ‘not legitimate response’ to terror attacks

US Special Envoy Jason Greenblatt attends a press conference

Times of Israel reports, “US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt on Friday night condemned settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank in response to terror attacks. “The recent Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israelis are unconscionable. But throwing rocks at vehicles who have nothing to do with these attacks is NOT a legitimate response. Innocent people could be killed,” Greenblatt wrote on Twitter. In October a Palestinian woman was killed by a rock hurled through her car’s windshield, in what the Israeli security establishment suspects was an attack by settlers.”

“Greenblatt’s comments came after several incidents of rock-throwing at Palestinian vehicles were reported throughout the West Bank. On Thursday evening, dozens of settler youths rioted at the scene of a deadly terror shooting in the central West Bank, human rights activists and Palestinian reports said. A number of rock-throwing incidents were also reported Thursday throughout the West Bank. On Friday police opened a probe into the assault of a Palestinian bus driver by a pair of Israelis in the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Modiin Illit.”…

Palestinian bus driver brutally assaulted by Israeli passengers at Modiin Illit settlement on December 13, 2018

“The Kavim bus company, which operates in Modiin Illit, said in a statement Friday a group of its drivers would be striking in response to repeated assaults they have endured at the hands of settlers. “The company’s management will not tolerate violence of any kind against its employees, and will act to bring to justice any person who commits such acts of violence,” a statement from Kavim said.” (more…)