Off the wire
• Roundup: Singapore stocks end down 0.16 pct  • Opposition in Denmark's Faroe Islands wins local parliamentary election  • Update: Blast in Syria's Latakia kills 10, injures 40  • 2nd LD-Writethru-China Focus: Chinese president honors WWII veterans  • China, Venezuela sign energy, mining cooperation deals  • China, ROK vow to boost cooperation  • China Voice: Marching toward a united, peaceful world  • Nearly 300,000 relocated to protect environment in China's Ningxia  • Sri Lanka's UPFA members oppose Tamil party's attempt to be main opposition  • Fewer children being adopted in Belgium: official figures  
You are here: 　 Home

Israeli PM orders tighter security against rock throwers

Xinhua, September 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday ordered to increase security presence in Jerusalem and on the highway leading to it, in response to a growing number of rock throwers and firebomb incidents.

Exclusive to youths, stone-hurling became a popular resistance method against Israeli control of Palestinian territories, starting with the first intifadah, or armed uprising, in the late 1980s.

During the past year, tensions escalated between Israelis and Palestinians, especially in Jerusalem and the West Bank, amid a halt in peace talks.

In the 1967 Mideast War, Israel occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem territories which were slated to become part of the future Palestinian state within a two-state solution.

Netanyahu met with his cabinet members and security officials Wednesday to discuss the escalating number of incidents, which have now become a daily occurrence in Jerusalem and along highway 443 connecting the center of Israel with Jerusalem and the West Bank.

"Our policy is zero tolerance towards stone-throwers and terrorists," Netanyahu said, according to a statement from his office.

Two extra border police companies will be deployed in Jerusalem in the near future along with an increase of 400 policemen.

Furthermore, Netanyahu ordered the construction of observation and intelligence posts along the highway with cameras and lighting.

Regarding stone throwers, officials will study legal procedures against them along with firebomb instigators, with new minimum sentences for such behavior to be determined, according to the statement.

Similarly, the Israeli parliament will soon pass an anti-terrorism bill, broadening the definition of terrorism and toughening punishment for terrorism-related crimes up to a maximum of 30 years in prison, reported the daily Ha'aretz Wednesday.

The bill's first voting round will be on Wednesday.

It treats threats of terrorism as terror acts, without differentiating between attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians. This gives security forces extended means, such as administrative detention, to combat terrorism, and permits security agencies to monitor computers belonging to those allegedly involved in terrorism.

In July, the Israeli parliament authorized a new law which increased punishment for stone-throwers.

The law, sponsored by the right-wing government, determines that stone-throwers may be sentenced to 10 years in prison without proof of harmful intentions - the norm up until then.

Over 1,000 mainly Palestinian youths were indicted for throwing stones in the past year, according to figures from Israel's Ministry of Justice. Endit