by Israel Hayom Staff
MK Avigdor Lieberman says PA leaders encourage murders of Israelis • Deputy Defense Minister Danon says murder was a result of incitement on behalf of Palestinian leadership • Housing Minister Ariel: Release of Palestinian prisoners results in bloodshed.
Demonstration outside the
Bat Yam restaurant where Hazan and Amar worked, Saturday night
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Photo credit: Gideon Markowicz  |
Hazan
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee
Chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beytenu) said Sunday that absence
of a Palestinian Authority condemnation of the murder of an IDF soldier
at the hand of a Palestinian man over the weekend proves that the
Palestinian leadership has no intention of making peace with Israel.
Three days after 20-year-old Tomer Hazan was
lured to the West Bank by a Palestinian co-worker and subsequently
murdered, Lieberman condemned the Palestinian Authority on his Facebook
page, saying "the fact that the Palestinian Authority hasn't issued a
clear condemnation of the murder proves once again that the current
negotiations the Palestinians are conducting with Israel is, for them,
merely a tactical move solely aimed at improving their international
standing."
"The killer, Nidal Amar, comes from a family
that has long been affiliated with Fatah, and several months ago,
Palestinian television even aired a favorable segment about his
terrorist brother, whom Amar had hoped to free from Israeli jail in
exchange for the soldier he abducted. There were photos of [Palestinian
Authority President] Mahmoud Abbas and Yasser Arafat hanging at the
entrance to the family home," Lieberman wrote.
"They continue to encourage and support the murder of Israelis," Lieberman stated.
Meanwhile, Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon
also accused the Palestinian Authority, saying that "this cruel murder
is a result of ongoing incitement on behalf of the Palestinian
leadership."
"Abbas provides a tailwind for these
horrendous acts, when, after making festive declarations at negotiations
currently underway, he continues to pay grants to killers in prisons.
Twenty years after Oslo, the Palestinians have yet to abandon the path
of terror," Danon remarked.
Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett
(Habayit Hayehudi) also issued a response, telling Army Radio on Sunday
that the incident proves that the Palestinians are not a partner for
peace.
"Twenty years after the Oslo Accords, our
partner has not changed. The murder, which was supposed to [serve as a
bargaining chip to secure the] release of a Fatah terrorist -- a soldier
loyal to Abbas -- demonstrates to us once again who our partner is. You
don't make peace with terrorists who throw soldiers' bodies into wells.
You fight them mercilessly," Bennett said.
Housing Minister Uri Ariel echoed Bennett's
sentiments, saying that "the State of Israel's absurd dance of releasing
terrorists continues to harm the security of Israel, now that
terrorists have learned that we no longer have any red lines. I demand
an immediate halt to all planned prisoner releases, which don't bring us
closer to peace but rather perpetuate the unnecessary bloodshed that we
witnessed today."
On Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
sent a condolence letter to the Hazan family, in which he wrote: "the
anguish of losing a son is terrible. The people of Israel share your
pain."
In his letter, Netanyahu noted that Hazan's
murder serves as a testimony to the terror Israel still faces. "The
heinous incident proves yet again that the battle against terrorism is
unrelenting and the war against it will continue, with all the available
means."
Overnight, U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry also condemned the murder.
He urged calm on both sides, describing it as "all the more important at this critical moment in the political process."
In a suspected response to the Hazan's murder,
right-wing activists slashed tires and spray painted vehicles in the
Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in east Jerusalem on Sunday
morning.
The words "price tag" were sprayed on one of the
vehicles, signifying that the vandalism was meant as a form of revenge.
Police have launched an investigation into the incident.
Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=12133
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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