Middle East Today: US Protests Israel Legalisation of 4 West Bank Outposts

Givat Assaf Outpost in the West Bank(Photo: Haaretz)

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Iraq: More Deaths in Bombings

At least 13 people have been killed in bomb attacks today in Iraq, a day after a wave of bombings across the country left at least 76 people dead.

In the latest attacks, three people were killed when two bombs went off simultaneously in Tuz Khurmato, a town populated mainly by ethnic Turkmen and claimed by the government in Baghdad and ethnic Kurds.

Gunmen and a suicide bomber killed three people in an attack on an army patrol in a Sunni area of Tarmiyah, 50 kilomatres (30 miles) north of Baghdad.

Further north, six people died and dozens were injured when three bombs exploded in the cattle market in al-Aruba district in Kirkuk.

US Criticises Israel Support of West Bank Outposts

US Secretary of State John Kerry has summoned the Israeli Ambassador, Michael Oren, to protest the Netanyahu Government's plan to legalise four West Bank outposts.

The Government had promised to demolish the outposts, but last week informed the High Court of Justice of the change in its position.

A senior Israeli official said Kerry called Oren last Thursday and requested clarifications, stressing that the move undermines his efforts to restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which oversees the West Bank.

Kerry requested that the Government rethink its decision, or at least postpone the legalisation.

The US Government has said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised Kerry that he would “restrain” settlement activity, after the Secretary of State asked both sides to refrain from provocations that might derail his efforts to renew negotiations.

Kerry is due to meet Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Thursday and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Friday. He is then expected to return for further talks with both leaders the following week.