Palestine tensions: Israel drafts Panther battalion to secure West Bank seam line
An officer of Israel's Border Defense Corps places a beret on a soldier's head | Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces announced on Wednesday the formation of a new co-ed light infantry battalion, which will be stationed along the West Bank security barrier. The barrier, also known as the 'seam line', aims to prevent Palestinians from illegally entering Israel.
The development comesa week after a terrorist bombing in Jerusalem claimed the lives of two Israeli citizens and months-long mounting tensions in the perilous West Bank.
The IDF said the decision was made following a months-long operation in the West Bank, during which numerous reservist units were dispatched to the security barrier to prevent Palestinians from entering Israel. The 49th battalion, named Panther, will be part of the Border Defense Corps, which uses a desert yellow-brown camouflage pattern beret, The Times of Israel reported.
WATCH -The Full Context: Israel-Palestine row is a 100-year old issue
“We have invested heavily in the planning of this battalion to ensure that the personnel recruited to it will have a significant military service that contributes to the operational goals of the IDF,” Brigadier-General Amit Yamin, the commanding officer of the Border Defense Corps, said while addressing a press conference.
The IDF said the unit would begin work sometime next year, with the first soldiers being drafted on Wednesday.
Tensions mount in West Bank
On November 29, a Palestinian reportedly rammed his car into an Israeli soldier, seriously injuring her, following which he was shot dead by Israeli police in stationed in the West Bank. He was the fourth Palestinian killed in a series of violent incidents throughout the day.
Earlier this week, the United Nations envoy to the Middle East warned that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was “reaching a boiling point,” due to surge in violence in the West Bank.
“High levels of violence in the occupied West Bank and Israel in recent months, including attacks against Israeli and Palestinian civilians, increased use of arms, and settler-related violence, have caused grave human suffering,” UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland said on Monday.
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