US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides warned that the current situation in the West Bank should not continue further, and called on the Israeli government to take action in this regard.
Speaking at a conference at the Reichman University in Herzliya, Nides urged Israeli leaders to support the two-state solution.
“I fundamentally believe that to keep Israel a democratic state, we need a two-state solution. I want to change the situation on the ground to make that possible, to keep that vision alive.”
According to Nides, the escalating tensions in the West Bank are as big of a threat to Israel as Iran and its terror proxies.
“Obviously Iran and its proxies are a fundamental threat, and US President Joe Biden has said we will not stand by and allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.”
“It is important for us not to lose sight of what could happen if the Palestinian situation gets worse, especially in the West Bank,” Nides added.
In remarks during the same event, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar warned about the increasing number of shootouts in the West Bank, as well as a wider loss of control by the Palestinian Authority.
“We have entered a sort of closed circle,” Bar said at a counter-terrorism conference at Reichman University in Herzliya.
“Our people are making arrests every night, and are coming under fire,” he added, noting that “the price is also Palestinian casualties.”
Bar said there were over 130 shooting incidents in the West Bank this year so far, compared to 98 in 2021, up 30%.
“We made more than 2,000 arrests and significantly increased the number of arrests of illegal drug dealers,” he said.
Bar, who claimed that the Israeli army’s increased activity in West Bank city centers is a result of the PA’s “weakening grip,” is not the first Israeli official to sound the alarm and call to strengthen Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Authority.
According to Bar, the vacuum created by the absence of the Authority's governance is being played out on social media.
Bar stressed that dealing with incitement online is a “new battlefield” for the security organizations.
“The state and the public, especially the youth, remain very, very exposed.”
