One of the top Palestinian negotiators Nabil Shaath said that the death of an Israeli settler Friday shows the Jewish state's continued unwillingness to coordinate on security, according to an AFP report.
An Israeli settler, who was a retired army colonel, was killed at his home in the West Bank, representing the third killing of this nature in the past three weeks. According to Shaath, the Israel-Palestine security agreement states that Israelis should "come to us immediately asking for security coordination." Instead, the Israeli army set up roadblocks near the death scene in Brosh, a settlement in the northern Jordan Valley, and conducted their own search for the perpetrators.
Shaath further said that Palestinian security provides "100 percent support and protection....[The Israelis] don't give us one percent [of their] information." Palestinian security forces are responsible for paying for security in the West Bank, but only control 38 percent of the total land, with the remaining 62 under the occupation of Israelis.
This attack, along with the recent others, have taken place in Area C, which makes up more than sixty percent of the West Bank. It is currently under the full control of the Israeli army.
The lack of coordination and trust between the two has the power to continue to heighten tensions between the groups and may serve as another factor undermining the potential for success of the current peace negotiations.
