Abbas condemns Har Adar attack, spokesman says

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has condemned a deadly Palestinian shooting attack that killed three Israelis, his spokesman said, two days after it took place. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had demanded Abbas condemn what he said was a terrorist attack resulting from “systematic incitement” against Israel by the Palestinians.

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh published a statement condemning the attack late Thursday on the Palestinian government-run Wafa news agency site.

“The president’s permanent position is to condemn all acts of violence, including this incident, no matter the source,” Abu Rudeineh said.

On Tuesday morning, a Palestinian worker killed three Israelis and seriously wounded another before he was shot dead at the entrance to the Har Adar settlement near Jerusalem.

Abbas has long been a critic of violence, but has remained quiet in the past when attacks against Israelis took place in the West Bank. He had been under heavy pressure to condemn Tuesday’s shootings.

His Fatah party is currently in the midst of a reconciliation effort with rival Palestinian group Hamas, which had praised the attack.

Abbas’s condemnation came as President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy, Jason Greenblatt, is in the region attempting to breathe life into peace talks, which last collapsed in 2014.

Shortly after the attack, Greenblatt tweeted that “All must stand against terror,” singling out Hamas for celebrating the shooting.

https://twitter.com/jdgreenblatt45/status/912680396902535169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.timesofisrael.com%2Feu-slams-reprehensible-hamas-praise-for-har-adar-terror-attack%2F

On Thursday, Greenblatt visited the three families of the victims of the attacks.

https://twitter.com/jdgreenblatt45/status/913490533376495619