A FORMER AIDE of a lawmaker from Israel’s hard-right governing coalition was among two settlers arrested today over the killing of a 19-year-old Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, Israeli media reported.

Qusai Jamal Maatan was shot dead in Burqah, east of Ramallah, yesterday as armed settlers clashed with villagers.

The UN has warned of a dramatic spike in such cases since the most right-wing government in Israel’s history took power at the end of last year.

Israeli media reported that the main suspect in the deadly shooting had sustained injuries in the clashes and been admitted to hospital.

The second suspect had acted as spokesman to a member of parliament from the far-right Jewish Power party, whose leader Itamar Ben-Gvir is public security minister in the coalition government, the reports said.

At Saturday’s funeral, Palestinian mourners carried Maatan’s body through the streets wrapped in a black and white keffiyeh headscarf and Palestinian flag, an AFP journalist reported.

Since early last year, the West Bank has seen a string of attacks by Palestinians on Israeli targets, as well as violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities and regular raids by Israeli forces who say they are pursuing militants.

In a statement today on the shooting, the Israeli army cited Palestinian reports and witnesses as saying that both sides had thrown stones at each other before the Israeli civilians had opened fire.

“As a result of the confrontation, a Palestinian was killed, four others were injured, and a Palestinian vehicle was found burned. Several Israeli civilians were injured from rocks hurled at them,” it said, adding security forces arrived after the shooting.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War of 1967.

Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, the territory is home to nearly three million Palestinians and around 490,000 Israelis who live in settlements which are illegal under international law.

Incidents rising

The last major case of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians occurred in June.

Revenge attacks on the West Bank village of Turmus Ayya and others followed the killing of four Israelis by Palestinian gunmen, which militant group Hamas said was in response to an Israeli army raid on Jenin refugee camp which killed six Palestinians.

The UN humanitarian agency OCHA yesterday said it had recorded 591 settler-related “incidents” in the West Bank in the first six months of 2023 resulting in Palestinian casualties, property damage, or both.

“That’s an average of 99 incidents every month, and a 39-percent-increase compared with the monthly average of the whole of 2022, which is 71,” spokesman Jens Laerke said.

Also on Friday, the Palestinian health ministry said Israeli soldiers shot dead Mahmoud Abu Saan, 18, in the West Bank city of Tulkarm. The Israeli army said “suspects fired and hurled explosives and stones” at patrolling soldiers “who responded with live fire”.

Friday’s killings came three days after a Palestinian gunman wounded six people in a shooting at an Israeli settlement in the West Bank before being shot dead himself.