Relatives and friends of Franco-Israeli Esther Horgan, 52, a mother of six who was killed when she went out for a run near her home in the West Bank settlement of Tal Menashe, mourn during her funeral on December 22, 2020.
JERUSALEM: Israel today announced the arrest of a Palestinian in connection with the murder of a Jewish settler in the occupied West Bank, in a case that raised tensions in the area.
Esther Horgan, a 52-year-old mother of six and a French-Israeli dual national, was found dead this week in a forest near the Tal Menashe settlement in the north of the Palestinian territory.
Relatives said she had gone out jogging on Sunday and never returned.
Following investigations by multiple branches of Israel’s security services, including the army, “a suspect in the murder of the late Esther Horgan… has been detained,” an Israeli government statement said.
“The Palestinian suspect from the Jenin area is being investigated by the Israeli Security Agency,” it added.
Earlier this week, Israel’s army had reinforced its presence in the West Bank in response to surging tensions partly linked to Horgan’s murder.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Monday that Israel will “settle accounts” with Horgan’s killer and President Reuven Rivlin visited her family earlier Thursday.
All Jewish settlements in the West Bank are regarded as illegal by much of the international community.
But the settler population has grown in recent years.
There are currently some 450,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank, living amid an estimated 2.8 million Palestinians.
Tensions between Palestinians and Jewish settlers in the West Bank have repeatedly led to violence.
