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Israel may ban Palestinian workers from entering Jewish settlements: Netanyahu

Xinhua, January 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel would not hesitate to prevent Palestinian workers from entering Jewish settlements in the West Bank, following two stabbing attacks there earlier this week.

"The government operates unprecedented measures against terrorism, measures we were not required to enact in the past," Netanyahu said during a speech in the Israeli parliament on Tuesday.

"We have a strong desire to sustain a daily routine - for us and for the Palestinians - but we will not hesitate, if needed, as we have done yesterday, to ban Palestinian workers from entering Jewish communities," he added.

The prime minister blamed the Palestinian leadership for incitement to violence, amid an ongoing wave of violence which saw the deaths of 24 Israelis and one U.S. citizen in a wave of lone-wolf Palestinian attacks.

During this time, more than 150 Palestinians were killed, some in clashes with Israeli security forces, while others were shot dead after allegedly committing attacks against Israelis.

The Israeli military said on Monday it would for the time being prevent Palestinian workers from entering workplaces in Jewish settlements, adding that the move may be renewed following a daily review of the security needs.

On Sunday, Dafna Meir, a mother of six, was killed after she was stabbed in her home at the Jewish settlement of Otniel, south of Hebron in the West Bank. A day later, a pregnant woman was moderately injured as she was stabbed in Tekoa, south of Jerusalem.

According to official Israeli figures, about 26,000 Palestinians work in Jewish settlements.

Israel occupied the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip territories in the 1967 Mideast War. There are about 500,000 Jews living in settlements in the West Bank, deemed illegal by the international community.

The Palestinians charge the ongoing Israeli occupation, and its settlement policy, are to blame for the wave of violence, which started in October, as well as the dim prospects of establishing a Palestinian state, in accordance with the two-state solution. Endit