West Bank – Abbas Orders PA Security Forces To Prevent Revenge Attacks

West Bank – Amid an increase in tensions between Palestinians and the IDF, Abbas orders security services to prevent attacks to maintain perceived advantage.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas ordered Palestinian security forces to prevent  any revenge attacks or mass confrontations against Israel, according to the Arab newspaper Rai al-Youm.

According to the report, the PA’s security forces were instructed to prevent any anti-Israel actions in order to not lose the political advantage that they claim to have, following the attack in the village of Duma that killed toddler Ali Dawabsha.

Abbas’s announcement came on the coattails of an increase in tensions and a series of clashes between Palestinian rioters and the IDF that followed the terror attack in the village of Duma, near Nablus in the West Bank on Friday.

West Bank settlers clashed with Palestinians and left-wing activists near the settlement outpost of Esh Kodesh and the Palestinian village of Kusra on Saturday morning. IDF forces came to the scene to break up the fight. The two groups threw stones at each other and when the IDF soldiers arrived, rioters pelted them with stones as well, the IDF said. There were approximately 15 settlers and 40 activists involved in the skirmish, Israel Radio reported.

According to the report, the issue of ownership rights to land is the point of friction that led to the fight on Saturday. Palestinian sources claim that settlers attacked a Palestinian-run tractor that was working the fields of Kusra and the settlers reported that the Palestinians burned vineyards planted by the settlers from the Esh Kodesh outpost, Israel Radio reported. There were no reported injuries in the incident.