J Street Condemns Fatal Stabbing of Israeli in West Bank, Concerned by Upsurge in Violence

J Street condemns the murder Tuesday of an Israeli man in the West Bank and calls on the authorities to uphold law and order and prevent revenge actions by settlers on Palestinians and their property.

Eviatar Borovsky, a resident of the Yitzhar settlement south of Nablus, was fatally stabbed at a bus stop by a lone attacker who was taken into custody. Borovsky, 30, was the first Israeli to be killed in the West Bank since September 2011.

After the killing, a group of Israelis blocked a road, set Palestinian fields on fire and threw stones at a Palestinian school bus, wounding two girls. Yitzhar settlers also smashed the window of a mosque in the Palestinian village of Urif and tried to set it on fire.

At a time when US Secretary of State John Kerry appears to be making some headway in efforts to revive peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians, these events are a reminder of the importance that all parties, for the sake of their own safety and wellbeing, show restraint and avoid any actions that could inflame the situation.