Blinken wants to reform Israel’s behavior in the West Bank after the killing of a US protester By Reuters
Written by Daphne Psaledakis and Steven Scheer
LONDON/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday called for an overhaul of the Israeli military’s behavior in the West Bank as he criticized the killing of an American protester against the expansion of settlements, which Israel said was accidental.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, who is also a citizen of Turkey, was shot and killed last Friday during a protest march in Beita, a village near Nablus where Palestinians have been repeatedly attacked by Jewish settlers.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday its initial investigation found that its soldiers may have fired the fatal shot but that his death was unintentional, and expressed deep regret.
In his strongest so far criticism of the security forces of the country closest to the Middle East, Blinken described the killing of Eygi as “unprovoked and unjust”. He said Washington will insist on the Israeli government to make changes in the way its forces operate in the West Bank.
“No one should be shot and killed for attending a demonstration. No one should risk their life just for expressing their views freely,” he told reporters in London.
“In our judgment, the Israeli security forces need to make significant changes to the way they operate in the West Bank, including changes to their rules of engagement.
“Now we have a second American citizen killed at the hands of Israeli forces. It is unacceptable,” he said.
An Israeli government spokesman declined to comment on Blinken’s speech.
The Israeli military said that the investigation by the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division is ongoing and its results will be submitted for review at the highest level once completed.
“We will look into that closely,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby (NYSE: ) told reporters, adding that the criminal investigation was an unusual step by the Israeli military.
“We’re going to want to see where it goes now in terms of the criminal investigation and what they find, and if anyone is held accountable and how,” Kirby added.
Eygi’s family called the initial investigation “grossly inadequate” and urged US President Joe Biden to demand an independent investigation.
FIRST QUESTION
In a statement, the Israeli military said that its commanders conducted a preliminary investigation into the incident and found that the gun was not aimed at him but by another person whom he called “an important initiator of the conflict.”
“This incident happened during a violent riot when a number of Palestinian suspects burned tires and threw stones at the security forces in Beita Junction,” he said.
Israel has sent a request to the Palestinian Authority to conduct an autopsy, he said.
“We are deeply offended by the suggestion that his killing by a trained shooter was unintentional,” Eygi’s family said in a statement.
An increase in violent settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank has sparked anger among Western allies of Israel, including the United States, which has imposed sanctions on some Israelis involved in the militant settler movement. Tensions between Israel and the Hamas group in Gaza have increased.
Palestinians have held weekly protests in Beita since 2020 over the expansion of nearby Evyatar, a settlement. Ultra-nationalist members of Israel’s ruling coalition have moved to legalize previously unauthorized areas such as Evyatar, a move Washington says threatens the stability of the West Bank and undermines efforts to resolve the conflict.
Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River, an area the Palestinians want as the core of a future independent state.
Israel has built dozens of settlements that many countries consider illegal. Israel disputes that assertion, citing historical and biblical ties to the area.
