Two Palestinians were killed during an attack on an Israel Army patrol
south of the West Bank city of Nablus. A military statement said the attack,
located near a Jewish community, was being investigated.
"The IDF will not allow the existence of violent and illegal riots,
which put human lives at risk," a military statement said on March 21.
Later, Palestinian gunmen opened fire toward an Israel Army patrol south
of Hebron near the Jewish community of Adura. There were no reports of
injuries.
In the Etzion bloc of Jewish communities south of Bethlehem, hundreds of
Palestinians clashed with Israeli soldiers on March 21. The military said
Israeli troops used anti-riot equipment and tactics to disperse the
Palestinians.
Officials linked the escalation in Palestinian unrest to U.S. pressure
on Israel to agree to unilateral concessions to the Palestinian Authority.
They said the PA, through the ruling Fatah movement, was organizing and
financing attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians in the West Bank
and Jerusalem area.
On March 22, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in the United
States for meetings with the administration of President Back Obama and
Congress. Netanyahu was reported to have agreed to a series of Israeli
concessions to the PA, including a freeze in construction in much of
Jerusalem.
"Our policy toward Jerusalem is the same policy of all Israeli
governments in the past 42 years and it has not changed," Netanyahu told the
Cabinet on March 21. "From our point of view, construction in Jerusalem is
like construction in Tel Aviv. These are the things which we have made very
clear to the American administration."
But a senior official acknowledged that the Israeli government would
impose restrictions on construction in Jerusalem. In a statement on March
21, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon did not elaborate.
"Building in Jerusalem will not be frozen," Ayalon said. "This has not
happened in the last 42 years. But we may have to exert greater supervision
and coordination."
