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Israeli Army Kills Palestinian at Checkpoint, Officials Say

Israeli soldiers watch Palestinians during clashes after a protest against Israeli settlements at Beita village near the West Bank city of Nablus, 03 February 2023. (EPA)
Israeli soldiers watch Palestinians during clashes after a protest against Israeli settlements at Beita village near the West Bank city of Nablus, 03 February 2023. (EPA)
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Israeli Army Kills Palestinian at Checkpoint, Officials Say

Israeli soldiers watch Palestinians during clashes after a protest against Israeli settlements at Beita village near the West Bank city of Nablus, 03 February 2023. (EPA)
Israeli soldiers watch Palestinians during clashes after a protest against Israeli settlements at Beita village near the West Bank city of Nablus, 03 February 2023. (EPA)

The Palestinian health ministry said Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian on Friday at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, the latest bloodshed in an Israeli-Palestinian flare-up.

The Israeli military said the man, identified by Palestinians as Abdullah Qalalweh, 25, approached troops at Hawara checkpoint near the city of Nablus, refusing orders to stop. The military said soldiers fired warning shots into the air before a soldier shot the man and killed him.

Violence has spiked in recent days, with an Israeli military raid on a militant stronghold in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin last week killing 10 people, most of them militants. A Palestinian gunman in a shooting attack Saturday in an east Jerusalem Jewish settlement outside a synagogue killed seven people.

The latest shooting brings to 36 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli troops this year. Last year was the deadliest since 2004, with nearly 150 Palestinians killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Israel intensified its raids in the West Bank after 19 Israelis were killed in a string of Palestinian attacks in the spring of 2022. In total, 30 people were killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis last year.

Israel says that most of those killed have been gunmen but others — including youths protesting the incursions and other people not involved in confrontations — have also been killed. Israel says the military raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks while the Palestinians view them as further entrenchment of Israel’s open-ended, 55-year occupation.

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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.