West Bank – Israeli Military: Palestinian Gunmen Who Wounded 3 Shot Dead

West Bank – Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian on Sunday after he opened fire at a West Bank checkpoint and wounded three soldiers, the military said.

The attacker opened fire near the Jewish settlement of Beit El. Medics said two of the wounded were in serious condition.

Palestinians identified the gunman as Amjad Sukkari, a 34-year-old policeman who worked as a bodyguard for the Palestinian attorney general.

Posts on his Facebook page from just hours before the attacks read “your mourning will be victorious,” ”there is nothing worth living for on this earth as long as the occupation strangles our breaths” and “everyday someone dies, I may be the next.”

Gaza’s Islamic militant Hamas rulers praised the shooting attack, the latest in four months of near-daily Palestinian assaults on Israeli civilians and soldiers.

Later Sunday, the military said a Palestinian attempted to ram his vehicle into soldiers north of Jerusalem. It said troops opened fire wounding the man who was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Palestinians have killed 26 people on the Israeli side and wounded dozens more since mid-September, mostly in stabbings, shootings and vehicular assaults. Israeli fire has killed 150 Palestinians during that time, with 105 identified by Israel as attackers. The rest died in clashes.

Israel says the bloodshed is fueled by a Palestinian campaign of incitement. Palestinians say it stems from despair over nearly 50 years of occupation.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius last week said his country will recognize a Palestinian state if its efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at an international conference fail.

At his weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said such a move by the French “will be an incentive for the Palestinians to come and not compromise.”

“The substance of negotiations is compromise and the French initiative, as it has been reported, in effect gives the Palestinians in advance reasons not to do so,” he said. “We are prepared to enter into direct negotiations without preconditions and without dictated conditions.”