HAR ADAR, West Bank (Reuters) - A Palestinian man with security clearance to work at a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank opened fire at a checkpoint on Tuesday, killing two Israeli security guards and a paramilitary policeman.

The assailant, who was armed with a pistol and also seriously wounded a fourth Israeli, was shot dead, police said.

The incident was unusual in that the 37-year-old man had been issued an Israeli work permit - a process that entails security vetting - unlike most of the Palestinians involved in a wave of street attacks that began two years ago.

A police spokeswoman said the gunman approached Har Adar among a group of Palestinians who work at the settlement, and aroused the suspicion of guards at the entrance checkpoint.

Challenged to halt, the Palestinian “opened his shirt, drew a pistol and fired at the security staff and troopers at close range,” the spokeswoman said.

Residents of the settlement told Israeli media the man worked as a cleaner. One of them, Moish Berdichev, said he had domestic problems - his wife had left him - and speculated he may have carried out the attack knowing he would not survive.

“He was a guy with a good head on his shoulders. It’s a shame. Very sad,” Berdichev told Army Radio.

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The Shin Bet internal security service identified the man as Nimr Jamal and said he had “severe personal and family issues, including domestic violence”.

The man lived in the nearby Palestinian village of Beit Suriq, the police said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in public remarks to his cabinet that the man’s house would be demolished and any work permits issued to his relatives would be revoked.</s>A Palestinian opened fire on Israeli guards and Border Police forces outside the entrance to a settlement in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) early Thursday morning, killing three. The gunman was shot, and died of his wounds.

The incident took place outside Har Adar, an Israeli settlement near Jerusalem in the West Bank.

The three Israelis killed include one Border Police officer, named as First Sgt. Solomon Gabariya, and two private guards. A fourth individual is reported wounded.

The Palestinian assailant was named in local media as Nimr Jamal, a 37-year-old father-of-four from Beit Surik, in the occupied West Bank. Israeli media said Jamal had no record of ‘security offenses’.

According to various reports, the Palestinian approached a guard post outside the settlement around 7am, before opening fire with a pistol. The attack occurred at the rear entrance to the settlement where Palestinian labourers with work permits enter.</s>Palestinian gunman reportedly opened fire on Israelis in settlement of Har Adar near Jerusalem, killing three.

Three Israelis have been shot and killed, and a fourth wounded, in a settlement in the occupied West Bank, Israeli army radio reported.

The station interviewed a resident of Har Adar, an illegal settlement near Jerusalem, who said the gunman had arrived with a group of Palestinian labourers and opened fire on paramilitary Israeli police guards.

The gunman, identified as a 37-year-old man from Beit Surik, a Palestinian village near Har Adar, was shot and killed after the attack, according to Israeli police.

The man, who reportedly carried a work permit for the settlement, approached the checkpoint at the entrance to Har Adar, when he started shooting at the guards, police said.

Har Adar is an upscale settlement west of Jerusalem, on the border between the West Bank and Israel.

Since September 2015, Palestinians have killed 48 Israelis, two visiting Americans and a British tourist in stabbings, shooting and car-ramming attacks.

During that same time, Israeli forces have killed over 255 Palestinians; Israel says most of them were attackers, others died in clashes with Israeli forces.

Most of the attacks have been stabbings against Israeli soldiers, primarily in the occupied West Bank.</s>Palestinian gunman kills three Israelis in the West Bank

A Palestinian gunman has killed three Israelis and wounded a fourth at the Jewish settlement of Har Adar in the occupied West Bank, Israeli police have confirmed.

The gunman entered the settlement, which is close to Jerusalem, with a group of Palestinian labourers and opened fire on paramilitary Israeli police guards, Israeli media said.

The gunman was also shot in the incident by Israeli forces. Israeli media are reporting he died at the scene.

More to come.</s>A Palestinian opened fire at Israeli security personnel at the entrance to a West Bank settlement on Tuesday, killing three and wounding another before being shot dead, police said.

“A terrorist who arrived at the rear gate of Har Adar along with Palestinian labourers entering the settlement.... pulled out a weapon and opened fire at the force at the site,” police said.

“Three Israelis were killed in the attack, another was wounded and the terrorist was neutralised.” Police later said the Palestinian had died of his wounds.

The shooter was identified by police as a 37-year-old man from Beit Surik, a Palestinian village near Har Adar, who carried a work permit for the settlement.

As he approached the checkpoint at the entrance to Har Adar, he aroused the suspicion of security forces, who ordered him to halt, police said.

He then pulled out a pistol and opened fire on border police and civilian security guards, before being shot. The wounded Israeli was admitted to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem in serious condition, the hospital said.

The incident, at a settlement northwest of Jerusalem that lies near several Palestinian villages, comes nearly two years after a wave of unrest broke out.

The violence had greatly subsided in recent months.

Since October 2015, the unrest has killed at least 295 Palestinians or Arab Israelis, 50 Israelis, two Americans, two Jordanians, an Eritrean, a Sudanese and a Briton, according to an AFP toll.

Israeli authorities say that most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out a knife, gun or car-ramming attacks.

Others were shot dead in protests and clashes, while some were killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.</s>JERUSALEM, Sept 26 (Reuters) - A Palestinian gunman killed three Israelis and wounded a fourth at a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Israel's Army Radio said.

The station interviewed a resident of Har Adar who said the gunman had entered the settlement with a group of Palestinian labourers and opened fire on paramilitary Israeli police guards.

The gunman was also shot in the incident but his condition was not immediately clear, Army Radio said. (Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)</s>HAR ADAR, West Bank: A Palestinian gunman killed three Israeli guards and wounded a fourth in an attack on a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday before he was shot dead, a police spokeswoman said.

She said the gunman approached Har Adar as part of a group of Palestinians who work at the settlement, and aroused the suspicion of private guards and paramilitary Israeli police posted at the entrance checkpoint.

Challenged to halt, the Palestinian "opened his shirt, drew a pistol and fired at the security staff and troopers at close range", said the police spokeswoman. She provided a handout photograph of his small-calibre firearm and two bullet clips.

The police statement did not elaborate on the identities of the Israeli casualties. It said the slain gunman, from the nearby Palestinian village of Beit Suriq, had an Israeli work permit.</s>Israeli soldiers guard near the scene where a police spokeswoman said a Palestinian gunman killed three Israelis guards and wounded a fourth in the occupied West Bank before himself being shot dead September 26, 2017. — Reuters picHAR ADAR, Sept 26 — A Palestinian opened fire at Israeli security personnel at the entrance to a West Bank settlement today, killing three and wounding another before being shot dead, police said.

The attack, which came as US envoy Jason Greenblatt was in Jerusalem for talks on relaunching the moribund Middle East peace process, drew condemnation from Israeli officials who demanded action from the Palestinian leadership.

"A terrorist who arrived at the rear gate of Har Adar along with Palestinian labourers entering the settlement... pulled out a weapon and opened fire at the force at the site," police said.

"Three Israelis were killed in the attack, another was wounded and the terrorist was neutralised."

Police later said the Palestinian had died of his wounds.

An AFP correspondent saw a heavy police presence around Har Adar, a well-to-do settlement northwest of Jerusalem high in the hills close to the Green Line that separates the occupied West Bank from Israel.

"When I arrived I saw three people died, and the terrorist died, and they took care of the people who died," paramedic Moiti Fried told AFP.

The shooter was identified by police as a 37-year-old man from Beit Surik, a Palestinian village near Har Adar, who carried a work permit for the settlement.

As he approached the checkpoint at the entrance, he aroused the suspicion of security forces, who ordered him to halt, police said.

He then pulled out a pistol and opened fire on border police and civilian security guards, before being shot.

Israel's Shin Bet internal security service said the shooter was a father of four with no previous "security background."

The wounded Israeli was admitted to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem in serious condition, the hospital said.

Police commissioner Roni Alsheich said the evidence suggested that the gunman had intended to penetrate the settlement and shoot the residents inside.

"As we see time and again, the threats are moving to the home front. This time they chose a town that's on the seam," he said, referring to the settlement's proximity to the Green Line.

"The quick reaction of the security forces" who identified and shot the gunman "prevented the terrorist from entering the settlement," he told reporters in Har Adar.

The latest attack comes nearly two years after a wave of unrest broke out.

The violence had greatly subsided in recent months but Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman warned in a briefing to the cabinet earlier this month that the risk of new attacks was ever present.

"Despite the relative calm, the security reality in the West Bank is fragile," he said.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said the Palestinian leadership needed to take action against such attacks or there would be no point in following up on the US initiative to relaunch peace talks.

"The terrible attack at Har Adar is the Palestinian reception for US envoy Jason Greenblatt," she said.

"The American efforts must focus first of all on ending the murderous Palestinian terror."

Hotovely renewed the Israeli government's call for the Palestinian Authority to stop paying allowances to the families of those who lost their lives carrying out attacks.

"There's no point negotiating with someone who just fans the flames of terror and continues to pay terrorist's families," she said.

The issue is a deeply divisive one, with many Palestinians seeing those killed carrying out attacks against the "occupation forces" as martyrs, while Israelis see them as "terrorists".

Since October 2015, the unrest in Israel and the Palestinian territories has killed at least 295 Palestinians or Arab Israelis, 50 Israelis, two Americans, two Jordanians, an Eritrean, a Sudanese and a Briton, according to an AFP toll.

Israeli authorities say that most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks.

Others were shot dead in protests and clashes, while some were killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.

West Bank settlements are a source of significant tensions between Israel and the Palestinians and have been a major sticking point in peace talks.

The UN envoy to the Middle East Nickolay Mladenov told the Security Council on Monday that Israel continues to build settlements "at a high rate," in defiance of Security Council demands for an end to the expansion of Jewish outposts.

From June to September, new construction was mostly in Israeli-annexed Arab east Jerusalem, with plans for some 2,300 new housing units — a 30 per cent increase from last year, he said.

Nine months ago, the Security Council adopted a resolution demanding an end to settlements. The measure passed after the United States declined to use its veto and instead abstained. — AFP</s>A Palestinian opened fire at Israeli security personnel at the entrance to a West Bank settlement on Tuesday, killing three and wounding another before being shot dead, police said.

"A terrorist who arrived at the rear gate of Har Adar along with Palestinian labourers entering the settlement.... pulled out a weapon and opened fire at the force at the site," police said.

"Three Israelis were killed in the attack, another was wounded and the terrorist was neutralised."

Police later said the Palestinian had died of his wounds.

The wounded Israeli was admitted to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem in serious condition, the hospital said.

The incident, at a settlement northwest of Jerusalem that lies near several Palestinian villages, comes nearly two years after a wave of unrest broke out.

The violence had greatly subsided in recent months.

Since October 2015, the unrest has killed at least 295 Palestinians or Arab Israelis, 50 Israelis, two Americans, two Jordanians, an Eritrean, a Sudanese and a Briton, according to an AFP toll.

Israeli authorities say that most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks.

Others were shot dead in protests and clashes, while some were killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.</s>TEL AVIV, Israel — A Palestinian attacker opened fire at the entrance to an upscale Jewish settlement in the West Bank, killing three Israeli men and critically wounding a fourth, authorities said.

The suspect was also fatally shot during the incident at Har Adar, police spokesman Luba Samri said.

The gunman had passed Israeli military security checks, which review Palestinians’ family connections and criminal records, to receive a permit to work in settlements in the West Bank and Israel itself, police told NBC News.

The 37-year-old suspect blended in with Palestinian day laborers entering the gated community, officials said.

Between 100 and 150 Palestinians have jobs in Har Adar, according to Shay Retter, the head of the settlement's security committee.

Moishe Berdichev, a resident of Har Adar, told Israel's Army Radio that the attacker worked as a cleaner at his house.

"I was supposed to pick him up tomorrow at the same checkpoint," he said. "I knew he had personal problems at home after his wife ran away ... We spoke to him about his issues but nothing we saw would indicate anything would happen like what happened today."

Berdichev added: "It is frightening and shocking to know that this person was the one who worked at our house. This is our reality — on one hand coexistence and on the other understanding that these things can happen."

The Israeli Security Agency named the attacker as Nimr Mahmoud Ahmed Jamal, and added that his wife had left him and their four children several weeks ago.

Har Adar is west of Jerusalem and on the seam line between the West Bank and Israel proper. Jewish settlements in the West Bank are a contentious issue because Palestinians see the area, which Israel has occupied since 1967, as integral to a future state.

The unemployment rate in the West Bank is high and work on the settlements provides vital income to thousands of Palestinians laborers.

Since September 2015, Palestinians have killed 48 Israelis, two visiting Americans and a British tourist in stabbings, shooting and car-ramming attacks.

During that same time, Israeli forces have killed more than 255 Palestinians; Israel says most of them were attackers, others died in clashes with Israeli forces. Most of the attacks have been stabbings against security forces, primarily in the West Bank.

Israel's Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman accused the Palestinian Authority of inciting the "murder of Jews." He called on the world community to "demand that the Palestinian Authority stop incitement and fanning terror."

Related: Can Trump's Former Lawyer Bring Peace to the Middle East?

The attack comes as U.S. Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt is scheduled to arrive in Israel for meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in hopes of reviving peace talks.

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely called the incident a "welcome message that the Palestinians prepared for American emissary Jason Greenblatt."

She added: "American efforts must focus first on stopping the murderous Palestinian terror, before anything else."
Three Israelis are killed and one other is wounded after a Palestinian gunman opens fire in an entrance to the Israeli settlement of Har Adar in the West Bank.