Palestinians’ fault there is no peace with Israel, US Amb. David Friedman says in wake of terror attack

JTA
Published January 10, 2018

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The U.S. Ambassador to Israel blamed the Palestinians for the lack of peace with Israel in a tweet about the West Bank Palestinian shooting attack that left an Israeli father of six dead.

“An Israeli father of six was killed last night in cold blood by Palestinian terrorists. Hamas praises the killers and PA laws will provide them financial rewards. Look no further to why there is no peace,” Friedman tweeted Wednesday morning.

The military wing of the terrorist Hamas reportedly praised the attack in a statement, but did not take responsibility for the drive-by shooting attack.

Rabbi Raziel Shevah, 35, was shot Tuesday night by a passing car near Nablus, in the northern West Bank, while he was driving past the Gilad Farm junction.

On Wednesday morning, Israel Defense Forces Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, visited the site of the attack and was briefed by local commanders.

Israel’s Defense Miniser Avigdor Liberman, in a statement issued on Weddnesday morning, said he had ordered his office to look into legalizing the Gilad Farms outpost, known as Havat Gilad.

“Security forces are pursuing the terrorists who murdered Rabbi Raziel Shevach, may God avenge his blood. I feel the pain and sorrow of his wife Yael and his six children. I have instructed the heads of the Defense Ministry to assist the family and the residents of Havat Gilad. I have also ordered an examination of the possibility of legalizing Havat Gilad and making it a community among the other settlements in Judea and Samaria,” the statement said.

Havat Gilad was established in 2002 in memory of Gilad Zar, security coordinator of the Shomron Regional Council, who was killed in a Palestinian terror attack. Dozens of families live in the outpost, but none of the homes have permits. Many of the buildings at the outpost have been demolished by the army only to be rebuilt.

Hundreds of people gathered at Gilad Farms on Wednesday afternoon for the funeral and burial of Shevach. His widow said it was his wish to be buried on the hilltop.

“We decided, together as a family, to bury him in the place he had dedicated himself to,” Yael Shevach said. “Raziel said that if something was ever to happen to him, he wanted to be buried in Havat Gilad. We respect his wishes and will bury him in the settlement he loved so much.”

The burial, while approved by the Samaria Regional Council, was not officially approved by the IDF or the government, according to reports.

Meanwhile, the IDF expanded its search for the killer or killers, including setting up roadblocks and checkpoints and entering Palestinian villages in the area to search for the gunman or his weapons. Palestinians also reported in an uptick in stone-throwing incidents by settlers on cars with Palestinian license plates.