Israeli security forces have arrested several Israelis suspected of plotting violence against Palestinians. The country’s Shin Bet security service and Israel police conducted operations on Sunday morning, arresting at least seven people at two unauthorised settlement outposts in Adei Ad in the north of the occupied West Bank, local media said. Aljazeera has more:
“Following various incidents that occurred in the West Bank recently, Israeli forces have carried out various searches throughout the night and have arrested a few suspects,” the police said in a statement, adding that the crackdown was part of “the investigation into the events that occurred in Duma”. The arson attack in Duma last month, which has been blamed on settlers, left a Palestinian baby and his father dead.
Saad Dawabsheh and his 18-month-old son Ali died and two other family members were severely injured in the July 31 attack.
Al Jazeera’s Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from Jerusalem, said that outposts were different from settlements in various aspects. “Settlements are large government construction projects occupied by Israelis. Outposts are effectively communities built by Israeli settlers on their own,” he said. “People living in outposts are widely viewed as ideological settlers as opposed to those who move to settlements for, for example, financial reasons.
