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Israeli army prepares for talks failure

Israeli army Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi says the military is ready to suppress West Bank protesters should talks with the Palestinians Authority (PA) fail.

In his report to the Israeli parliament (Knesset) on Tuesday, outgoing Ashkenazi warned of possible outbreaks of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli settlers, but predicted they would not rise into a new intifada (uprising).

“The Palestinians are expecting the talks to progress and the settlers are abiding by the construction moratorium directive, but there is an expectation on their part for the freeze to end,” Israel’s Ynet news website quoted Ashkenazi as telling the Knesset.

“At this point we are gearing to prevent clashes ahead of the olive harvest,” he went on to say.

Under international pressure, in November 2009 Tel Aviv announced a partial, temporary settlement freeze on West Bank settlement construction. The moratorium is due to expire on September 26.

Palestinians and the international community have raised calls for a renewal of the 10-month halt, calls that have so far fallen on deaf ears.

On Wednesday, Israeli settlers clashed with Palestinian youths in the Arab neighborhood of Silwan in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) Old City.

According to Media reports, one Palestinian was killed and more wounded in the face-off when a settler guard opened fire on stone-throwing protesters. Palestinian sources, however, put the mortalities at two.

The shooting came a day after reports of settler violence against Palestinian farmers in the northern West Bank cities of Nablus and Qalqilya, where assailants beat the Palestinians and ransacked a part of their olive harvest.

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