TEL AVIV — An Israeli citizen was shot and injured on Tuesday in the northern West Bank as the country was marking Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and terror victims.
The incident comes against a backdrop of increased tensions between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank in recent weeks, including a deadly attack in the Jordan Valley on April 7, when a mother and her two daughters were shot and killed. On Sunday night, Israeli forces arrested 16 Palestinians suspected of carrying out militant activities against Israelis throughout the West Bank.
Israel faces not only with tensions in the West Bank, but also with simultaneous and perhaps even coordinated threats on its other fronts.
Fifty years ago, on May 21, 1973, then-Defense Minister Moshe Dayan told commanders of the Israel Defense Forces that in his assessment, the likelihood of a multi-front war with Egypt and Syria was rising and that other countries would join the fighting, including Libya and Iraq. His assessment materialized less than five months later. On Oct. 6, as Israeli Jews were marking Yom Kippur, the holiest day on their calendar, Egypt and Syria launched a coordinated surprise attack. The IDF was prepared for war but had not mobilized reserve forces, believing that regular forces could block the enemy advance until reserves could be deployed. To this day, the error is perceived as the greatest security failure in the history of the State of Israel.
