Against the background of the security tensions in Judea and Samaria, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry published Wednesday an unusual announcement in which it harshly criticized Israel and warned against possible damage to mediation efforts. In Jordan, which has often parroted criticism of Israel to pacify their majority Palestinian population, they too joined the harsh criticism and emphasized that they "condemn the Israeli settlers' attacks on the villages in the occupied Palestinian territories and demand that it be stopped immediately." Both countries neglected to mention the terror attack in Eli that sparked the pockets of violence from extremists in Israel against Palestinians.
"Egypt demands an immediate halt to the attacks by the Israeli settlers on some of the Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank, which led to Palestinian victims and injuries, destruction and damage to such property, without intervention from the Israeli authorities," the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Egypt condemns Israel assault in #Jenin https://t.co/HubGjK9Kmw
— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) June 20, 2023
In addition to this, it is written that "Egypt emphasizes its complete rejection of all acts of intimidation and collective punishment that harm the Palestinians, and draws attention to the fact that they have occurred in the past. Egypt warns of the dangers and consequences of the ongoing escalation on the part of Israel, the last event of which was the invasion of the city of Jenin two days ago, which led to victims and wounded in the ongoing cycles of violence. Egypt emphasizes the need to break the cycle of violence immediately to prevent bloodshed, further deterioration of the security situation and it getting out of control, and to allow the pacification efforts of the regional and international actors to achieve their goals." Again, the statement did not refer to the Jenin incident as a mission to arrest militants planning attacks that turned into a skirmish when militants planted IEDs and ambushed the arrest units, rather insinuating that the Jenin operation was a cold-blooded assault on a peaceful population.
Israel security forces' vehicle appears to be damaged from an IED in Jenin. pic.twitter.com/PEAx1eCrpp
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) June 19, 2023
The Egyptian statement also ignored the activities of the Israeli security forces to end fringe violence towards Arabs by Jewish extremists. Earlier on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces announced that Israeli citizens had set fire to Palestinian property in the village of Turmusaiya. The IDF clarified that the security forces entered the village to put out the fires, prevent friction and collect evidence. The citizens left the village and the police began investigating the circumstances to make arrests.
The IDF also emphasized that it condemns serious incidents of violence and destruction of property. "Incidents of this type prevent the IDF and the security forces from focusing on their main mission, protecting the security of the citizens of the State of Israel and preventing terrorism."
The Israeli government gave the Palestinian Authority and Egypt a green-light on June 18 to develop a natural gas field off the Gaza Strip’s shore on condition that Israel’s national interests are safeguarded: https://t.co/Vvb9sCk98C
— FDD (@FDD) June 20, 2023
The statement of the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also strongly condemned "the Israeli government's announcement on the construction of a thousand units of new settlements in the occupied West Bank". A Jordanian spokesman emphasized that "the ongoing violations and attacks in the occupied Palestinian territories foreshadow further escalation and express a dangerous trend, which the international community must act to stop immediately. Violence begets violence. It is necessary to stop the dangerous escalation and the unilateral steps of building settlements and expanding them."
