On 3/29/2022 11:00 AM, Matthew wrote:
> most recent:
> https://twitter.com/manniefabian/status/1508858810374492164
>
> an all-out regional war is also not far away

from
https://www.timesofisrael.com/breaking-silence-pa-leader-mahmoud-abbas-condemns-bnei-brak-terror-attack/

Breaking silence, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas condemns Bnei Brak terror attack

Hamas, Islamic Jihad praise deadly shooting spree that left five
Israelis dead in central Israeli city; dozens celebrate in terrorist’s
hometown near Jenin
By AARON BOXERMAN
30 March 2022, 12:41 am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting with
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Ramallah, on February 10,
2022. (Mohamad Torokman/Pool Photo via AP)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a rare condemnation
of the terror attack that left five Israelis dead in Bnei Brak on
Tuesday night, as dozens of Palestinians rallied in support of the
gunman in his West Bank hometown.

“[The president] expressed his condemnation of the killing of Israeli
civilians tonight, emphasizing that the killing of Palestinian and
Israeli civilians only leads the situation to deteriorate,” Abbas’
office said in a statement.

Eleven Israelis have died in the past week in the deadly attacks by Arab
Israelis and Palestinians across the country. While Ramallah’s rivals —
including Hamas and Islamic Jihad — celebrated the killings, Abbas
stayed silent until Tuesday’s attack.

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Earlier on Tuesday evening, a Palestinian gunman opened fire on Israelis
in Bnei Brak, east of Tel Aviv. Five Israelis were killed, including a
police officer, who died of injuries sustained in a firefight in which
the terrorist was killed.

The gunman was identified as Diaa Hamarsheh, a 26-year-old resident of
the town of Ya’abad near Jenin in the West Bank who was in Israel
illegally. Hamarsheh was sentenced to a year and a half in Israeli
prison for security offenses in 2013. Police also arrested a number of
suspected accomplices.

Ramallah had refrained from publicly discussing the escalating terror
wave against Israelis at all, remaining silent during the deadly attacks
in Beersheba last Tuesday and Hadera on Sunday. Surveys regularly show
that large swathes of the Palestinian public view “armed struggle”
against Israel as legitimate.

Israeli police officers and medics are seen at the scene of a shooting
attack in Bnei Brak, on March 29, 2022. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
“The cycle of violence confirms that a comprehensive, just and stable
peace is the shortest, most correct path to security and stability for
both peoples,” Abbas said.

Abbas noted that the Ramadan holy month was coming up, as well as the
Jewish and Christian holidays. Officials and analysts have warned for
months that the convergence of major holy days for all three faiths over
the next few weeks could spark violence.

“We all aim to realize stability,” Abbas said.

Pro-Hamas news sites circulated videos of what they said were Ya’abad
residents congregating in front of Hamarsheh’s home to demonstrate
solidarity with the dead terrorist.

“Millions of martyrs are marching to Jerusalem!” the town residents
chanted, according to the footage.

Palestinian terror groups praised the deadly shooting spree, though none
took responsibility for the slaughter.

“The Tel Aviv operation emphasizes the unity of the Palestinian people
everywhere they live,” Hamas official Mushir al-Masri told Al-Aqsa TV, a
channel affiliated with the terror group.

The attack came as Israeli security forces were already on heightened
alert as Ramadan approaches.

The situation escalated after two attacks committed by Arab Israeli
terrorists left six people dead over the past week. Those two attacks
were perpetrated by Israeli Arab citizens and apparently inspired by the
ultra-fundamentalist Islamic State terrorist organization rather than by
Hamas or another Palestinian group.

On Sunday, two police officers were killed in a shooting attack in
Hadera by two terrorists who were shot dead. Five days prior, an Arab
Israeli terrorist killed four people at a mall in southern city of
Beersheba. The terrorist — previously convicted of attempting to join
the Islamic State — was shot dead by passersby.

PA leader Abbas also warned that the “condemnable incident” might spark
revenge attacks by Israelis against Palestinians. The recent terror
attacks against Israelis have been followed by alleged hate crimes
against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Last week, Palestinians living in Jama’in, near Nablus, awoke to find
that someone had sought to burn down a mosque in their town overnight. A
slogan reading “Jews will not be silent when we are murdered” was
graffitied on a nearby wall, along with a Star of David, according to
images from the scene.

MK Mansour Abbas, leader of the Islamist Ra’am party, speaks during a
plenum session in the assembly hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem, on
January 5, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Prominent Arab Israeli politicians also condemned Tuesday’s Bnei Brak
attack, including both Joint List chief Ayman Odeh and Ra’am party
leader Mansour Abbas. The latter, whose party is a member of the
governing coalition, called the shooting “a despicable, vile terror
crime against innocent civilians.”

“We will not stop at merely condemning, because the terror is not
stopping and does not bow its head. We are determined to walk a peaceful
path, despite all the extremists,” Mansour Abbas said.

Israeli police and rescue personnel at the scene of a shooting attack in
Bnei Brak, on March 29, 2022. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Odeh also condemned the attacks. But he compared the Israelis killed in
Bnei Brak to Palestinians killed during clashes with Israeli forces.

“Five civilians were killed today — each a world in their own right.
They join the 51 Palestinians killed since the beginning of the year —
each one a world in its own right,” Odeh says.

“It is time to end the source of hatred that is the damned occupation,
and to establish peace that will bring security and normal life to both
peoples,” Odeh added.