Washington [US], August 9: The United States said Monday that West Bank settlers' killing of a 19-year-old Palestinian was "terror", sharpening its tone on far-right Zionist violence. The State Department's bureau in charge of the Middle East in a weekend post on Twitter, which has been rebranded X, strongly condemned the "terror attack by (Zionist) extremist settlers". State Department spokesman Matthew Miller made clear Monday that the word choice was not an accident.
"The thinking is that it was a terror attack, and we are concerned about it, and that's why we called it that," he told reporters. "We have also been clear that accountability and justice should be pursued with equal rigor in all cases of violent extremism, whoever the perpetrators are," he said. He noted that the Zionist entity has made arrests, which he called "appropriate action". Qusai Jamal Maatan was shot dead in Burqah, east of Ramallah, on Friday as armed settlers clashed with villagers.
Zionist media said that one of two suspects was a former aide to a lawmaker from the far-right Jewish Power party, whose leader Itamar Ben-Gvir is public security minister. The United Nations has warned of a dramatic spike in violence since the Zionist entity's most rightwing government in history took office late last year in a coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. US President Joe Biden's administration has repeatedly criticized actions and statements from the coalition government while stopping short of countermeasures that could trigger public spats with Netanyahu, who is popular with the rival Republican Party.
The United States under president George W Bush waged a global "war on terrorism" following the Sept 11, 2001 attacks by Islamist extremists. His successor Barack Obama was more sparing in the use of the word "terrorism", preferring the less loaded "violent extremism". Meanwhile, the Zionist army said Tuesday it demolished the home of a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, which has seen months of violence. Clashes occurred during the overnight incursion to destroy the residence of Abdel Fatah Khroushah in the Askar camp for Palestinian refugees, in the northern city of Nablus, the military said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said six Palestinians were wounded, including one by live ammunition. The medical organization said Zionist forces directly targeted one of its ambulances with rubber bullets and tear gas. Zionist forces killed Khroushah, 49, during a raid in March. After the military blew up his residence, smoke billowed across the densely populated neighborhood and neighbors inspected the damage. "This is a brutal and barbaric act. They destroyed the house completely," said Ramzeyah Mustafa Khroushah, the wife of Khroushah, who lived at the family's third-floor home with two daughters.
"We are now looking for a place to live," she told AFP, adding her three sons had been arrested by the army the day her husband was killed. The Zionist entity regularly demolishes the homes of Palestinians it accuses of deadly attacks on Zionists, arguing such measures act as a deterrent. Human rights activists say the policy amounts to collective punishment, as it can render non-combatants, including children, homeless. Palestinian militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, said such measures had proved to be a "failure" in the past.
They would instead "push our people in the West Bank and Jerusalem to escalate the resistance", the group said in a statement. Since early last year, deadly violence has rocked the northern West Bank, where the Zionist entity has stepped up military raids often in crowded neighborhoods. The Zionist entity has occupied the West Bank since 1967. Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, the territory is home to nearly three million Palestinians and around 490,000 Zionists who live in settlements considered illegal under international law. - AFP
Source: Kuwait Times