Abbas said in an interview with Israeli Radio that he has, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, agreed to a joint investigation into the matter. The president further called for a joint Israeli-Palestinian-American committee to look into claims of incitement in Palestinian schools and mosques.
Abbas said that he telephoned Netanyahu to offer condolences as well as help from the PA security forces in bringing the perpetrators to book.
On Sunday, Netanyahu said that “alarming incitement in Palestinian schools, mosques and media” had prepared the ground for the Itamar attack that led to the killing of five members of a Jewish settler family.
Abbas said that there is no incitement. He added that the Palestinian Ministry of Waqf and Religious Affairs has decided that all mosques should deliver the same sermon, distributed by the ministry.
Meanwhile, Abbas condemned the attack in Itamar, calling it despicable, immoral and inhuman.
He told Israeli Radio that “a human being is not capable of something like that.”
“I’m not capable of seeing a four-month-old baby girl murdered, or a woman slaughtered,” Abbas said. “Any person who has a sense of humanity would be hurt and driven to tears by such sights.”
He added that if it had possessed any prior knowledge of the attack, then the PA would have prevented it. “Now we want to know who carried it out.”
The Jewish occupiers, meanwhile, continued their attacks against Palestinians to avenge the killing of the Fogel family.
Palestinian sources said that a tractor and private vehicle were set on fire in the village of Doura Al-Qari’ east of Ramallah. The Israeli Civil Administration and police department confirmed the details and stated that the Palestinians have filed a complaint.
Also in the West Bank, A few dozen occupiers from the Neve Tzuf settlement to the west of Ramallah, where the Fogel family is sitting shiva (seven days of mourning) after the attack, are blocking the junction nearby in protest at the attack.
Israeli Army Radio said that the police dispersed protesters by force and arrested a 42-year old woman.
