ISIS Terrorist Attack Kills Seven in West Libya

The scene of the terrorist attack east of Tripoli on Thursday, August 23, 2018. (Reuters)
The scene of the terrorist attack east of Tripoli on Thursday, August 23, 2018. (Reuters)
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ISIS Terrorist Attack Kills Seven in West Libya

The scene of the terrorist attack east of Tripoli on Thursday, August 23, 2018. (Reuters)
The scene of the terrorist attack east of Tripoli on Thursday, August 23, 2018. (Reuters)

ISIS affiliates killed seven security personnel and injured at least 10 others Thursday in an attack on a security checkpoint in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

This attack took place shortly after the broadcast of a voice recording by ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to incite his supporters to launch more terrorist attacks in several Arab countries, including Libya.

In a statement, head of Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez al-Sarraj pledged to pursue the perpetrators of Thursday’s attack.

“They will not escape impunity and will not find a safe place for them in Libya."

He pointed out that he has given instructions to the ministry of interior and security services to probe the attack and arrest the perpetrators.

“This terrible crime is carried out only by criminals, who have been stripped out of their humanity and of all values and religious and moral laws," Sarraj said in his statement.

“Such crimes will only increase the Libyans' determination to fight terrorism.”

“Our country faces a terrorist enemy that targets its stability. We will exert all efforts to fight it and obtain every possible support to monitor, prosecute and punish the perpetrators,” Sarraj stressed.

Separately, French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes Von der Muhll announced that she encourages all initiatives within the framework of UN mediation aimed at achieving reconciliation and stability in Libya.

In response to France's position on the Italian initiative backed by Washington to hold a conference on Libya, she said that Paris stresses that the political solution, under the auspices of the UN, is the only way to establish stability in a sustainable manner in Libya.

She stressed the need to adopt a constitutional basis to carry out presidential and legislative elections, which was set and approved by the main Libyan parties during the May Paris conference that brought together rival Libyan factions.

The gatherers agreed during the talks to held presidential and parliamentary elections in December.

Moreover, the French official said that Paris was following up on Italian efforts to hold a conference on Libya later this year.

After receiving American backing, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has been seeking to organize an international conference on Libya in the fall.



Report Says Israeli Settlers Used Grazing to Grab Swathes of West Bank Land

20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)
20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)
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Report Says Israeli Settlers Used Grazing to Grab Swathes of West Bank Land

20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)
20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)

A report by Israeli settlement watchdogs says settlers have used grazing to seize control of 14 percent of the occupied West Bank through the establishment of shepherding outposts in recent years.

In their report, "The Bad Samaritan", Israeli NGOs Peace Now and Kerem Navot said that in the past three years, 70 percent of all land seized by settlers was "taken under the guise of grazing activities".

Settlers in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, use herding to establish a presence on agricultural lands used by Palestinian communities and gradually deny them access to these areas, according to the report.

To force Palestinians out, settlers resort to harassment, intimidation and violence, "with the backing of the Israeli government and military", the watchdogs said.

"Israeli authorities make living conditions very difficult, but settler violence is really the main trigger why people leave lately -- they have nothing to protect themselves", said Allegra Pacheco, director of the West Bank Protection Consortium, a group of international NGOs.

"People get very worried about their families and their safety", and have no recourse when settlers start occupying their lands, she told AFP.

Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to around 490,000 Israelis living in settlements and outposts considered illegal under international law.

Around three million Palestinians live in the West Bank.

On Friday, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that "Israeli settlers injured 23 Palestinians in one week, mainly in Bedouin and herding communities".

That same week, between March 11 and 17, "two Palestinian families were displaced, and at least two houses, eight vehicles and 180 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings were vandalized" in incidents involving settlers.

More than 60 entire Palestinian shepherding communities throughout the West Bank have been expelled using such methods since 2022, the report added.

These communities are overwhelmingly in the West Bank's Area C, which under the Oslo Accords signed in the 1990s falls under full Israeli control.

In recent months, several Israeli far-right politicians including some in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government have suggested taking advantage of the friendly US administration under President Donald Trump to annex part or all of the West Bank in 2025.

"The systematic and violent displacement of Palestinians from hundreds of thousands of dunam of land in recent years has undoubtedly laid the groundwork to facilitate such ambitions", the new report said of annexation, using a traditional measure of land area equivalent to 1,000 square meters.