Israel charges 2 Palestinians over alleged West Bank shootings

Israel has charged a Palestinian Authority (PA) official and a prominent Palestinian lawyer in connection with alleged attacks on vehicles in the occupied West Bank.

News ID: 444985

Date: 21 May 2019 - 10:03

RNA - Israel's Shin Bet domestic security agency claimed in a statement on Monday that Zakaria Zubeidi, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, and Tareq Barghout, a lawyer with the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, carried out the shootings between November 2016 and January 2019.

The agency said the pair used an official PA vehicle for transportation in the Ramallah area in the shootings, which left three people slightly injured.

Elsewhere in the statement, Shin Bet said in November 2018 and January 2019 the two Palestinians fired at Israeli buses travelling near the Jewish settlement of Beit El.

Barghout was also accused of damaging a police vehicle at a crossing point between the West Bank and east Jerusalem al-Quds in November 2016.

Zubeidi and Barghout were arrested in February during a raid by Israeli force in Ramallah. Zubeidi has since been imprisoned in Israel’s Ofer Prison. Barghout is being held in Rimon.

The Fatah Revolutionary Council at the time denounced the arrests, saying the move was a "message" to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is against the so-called deal of the century.

The arrest of Zubeidi, who was released in 2007 as part of an agreement with Tel Aviv, proves that the regime does not respect deals, Jamal Hawil, a member of the council said.

The so-called deal, a back-channel plan to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was proposed by the administration of US President Donald Trump late 2017. Although it has not been released, leaks signal the deal will consist of the same tried-and-failed ideas.

Leaks also suggest that it regards the entire Jerusalem al-Quds as an Israeli "territory," whereas Palestinians view the eastern sector of the occupied city as the capital of their future state.

Palestinians also believe that the US-drafted plan keeps the subject of final boundaries of Israeli settlements to be discussed in later negotiations.

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