Head of West Bank Regional Council protests IDF actions in West Bank

In response to the reduction of IDF troops in the West Bank and the opening of the Gilad road to Palestinians, the head of the Shomron Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, along with five other heads of communities, wrote a letter last week to IDF chiefs of Central Command and the 877th Division, protesting these actions. 

“Despite a clear increase in terrorist attacks in our area in general and on the Gilad road in particular, and only five months after the horror of the October 7 massacre…you chose to order the opening of the Gilad road to the movement of Palestinians from the Palestinian Authority,” the letter read, noting that 88 attacks had been carried out on this road in the past year and 16 attacks in the last two weeks.

Dagan states IDF unwilling to talk 

The letter also mentioned that a military unit that guarded the road had been removed. 

“Despite our repeated requests for talks on this issue with the leaders of the settlements and with the civil security personnel on behalf of the council in the area, you refuse the minimal amount of talks required before making a decision that, in our eyes and according to our experience is life-threatening. You continue on a path that will surely lead to the next attack,” the letter stated. 

"We repeat and emphasize: The decision to open the Gilad road and the lack of readiness to talk, listen, and think together before this decision was made clearly endangers the lives of the residents; we write this based on our recent and distant experience," the group stressed.  

“We demand the meeting now before the attack that will result in blood and victims," they added.

The letter requested that the decision to remove the forces and open the Gilad road be reviewed and examined jointly.