ISRAEL BEGINS UNPRECEDENTED MILITARY EXERCISES
Ramallah, 22 Rabi’ul Awwal 1436/13 January 2015 (MINA) –The Israeli regime has started intensive military training and exercises to prepare for possible violence in the West Bank, according to the Israeli daily, Maariv.
Quoting security sources, it said the military is preparing for anticipated violence in the near future, after Israel’s decision to withhold Palestinian tax revenues which has thrown a wrench into paying public servants their salaries.
“It’s the first of its kind in the past ten years,” a senior Israeli security officer said about the exercise, Gulfnews quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of Palestinian attacks against Israeli targets from July to December, according to the daily. A total of 1,866 instances of stone-throwing at Israeli vehicles were reported, compared to 876 attacks in the first half of the year.
The Palestinian national consensus government is also under threat of unravelling after Hamas said it would set up its own committee to run Gaza and end any presence from Ramallah in the city.
Hamas threatened to sue the Palestinian government for ‘marginalising’ Gaza and delaying payment of public workers.
“Israel’s withholding of Palestinian funds is in itself a time bomb that can explode any moment,” Gassan Al Khatib, former speaker of Palestinian government told Gulf News.
“PNA’s failures puts them in a lower position in the eyes of the Palestinian street,” he added.
Hamas, in his opinion, was also adding fuel to the fire by embarrassing the PNA where it already is embarrassed.
“How can the PNA pay the public servants salaries in Gaza if it is not paying them in the West Bank already,” he said.(T/P009/R03)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
