Israelis are calling for revenge after the drive-by slaying of a Jewish settler by a suspected Palestinian gunman in the West Bank.
The victim, Raziel Shevah, died in a hospital after he was hit by multiple bullets Tuesday night near Havat Gilad, an unauthorized Jewish settlement near Nablus. Israeli soldiers set up roadblocks and sealed off Palestinian villages surrounding the city on Wednesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to do "everything possible" to apprehend the shooter.
He again condemned the Palestinians' "martyrs' fund," which makes payments to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, militants and others killed or wounded in confrontations with Israeli police and soldiers.
"Funding and incentivizing murder doesn't exactly advance peace. Here's the principle they're communicating to their people: Kill Israelis and get rich. Now, what kind of message does that send to impressionable Palestinian children?" Netanyahu asked a group of foreign journalists Wednesday.
Havat Gilad is what Israel regards as an unapproved settlement, inside a remote part of the West Bank. Small numbers of Jewish hard-liners who insist the Palestinian West Bank is part of Israel populate such settlements, and the Israeli government sometimes tries to evacuate such areas by force.
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future state and regard Jewish settlements — both approved and unapproved by the Israeli government — as a major obstacle to peace.
