Liberman wants carrot and stick policy in West Bank

Defense Minister says military should act with "firm hand" in areas from which many terror attacks originate.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Updated: JUNE 29, 2016 00:18
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (C) speaks to OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Roni Nume (L) and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen Gadi Eisenkot (R) (photo credit: ARIEL HERMONI / DEFENSE MINISTRY)
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (C) speaks to OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Roni Nume (L) and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen Gadi Eisenkot (R)
(photo credit: ARIEL HERMONI / DEFENSE MINISTRY)
The IDF should pursue a “differential” security policy, by which it would act with a “firm hand” in Palestinian areas from which many terrorist attacks originate, and ease conditions in areas that have not generated many attacks, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Tuesday.
He spoke after touring Central Command, where he received a briefing from OC Central Command Maj.-Gen.
Roni Numa and other senior officers.
In areas that have been quiet, the military should ease conditions on a larger level and for individual Palestinian civilians, Liberman said. “This way, everyone will know that there are consequences for both directions,” the defense minister said.
Liberman, who resides in the settlement of Nokdim, thanked the Central Command for its many efforts to secure residents. He issued the statement “as a resident of Judea, who has lived in the area for many years, and drives on the roads of Judea and Samaria.”
Many of the Palestinian terrorists who have carried out attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers in recent months have come from specific areas of east Jerusalem and the West Bank. The Hebron region, and the village of Yatta in particular, have become hot spots for violence and the source of attackers traveling to other areas to perpetrate attacks.
The Sarona Market attack, in which four Israeli civilians were killed and numerous others wounded earlier in June, was just one of many incidents in which Yatta residents have contributed to what has been dubbed the “stabbing intifada.”
Most terrorist acts since October 2015 have been unorganized.
Liberman’s call for a differentiated security policy reflects the Israeli security and political establishment’s struggle with balancing incentives for Palestinians on the one hand, such as expanded work visa allocations, with stricter measures such as house demolitions.
Zack Pyzer and Jihan Abdallah contributed to this story.