Netanyahu says Palestinian Authority in for ‘big surprise’

JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Palestinian Authority was in for a “big surprise” after he ordered a major military operation in response to an attack on soldiers in the West Bank.Netanyahu, days ahead of elections, declined to answer directly when he was asked if he would dismantle the Palestinian Authority but said he favoured “ruse and surprise”.“We transformed the Middle East. I said that we would change things and we have,” Netanyahu told i24News in an interview conducted late on Oct 23.“There is a very big surprise for the Palestinian Authority as well.”Netanyahu on Oct 23 promised a massive military response after Palestinian militants killed two Israeli soldiers near Hebron in the occupied West Bank.One of his far-right allies called after the attack for Israel to bring down the Palestinian Authority, the semi-autonomous body that governs parts of the West Bank in cooperation with Israel as part of peace accords in the 1990s.No evidence suggests that the Palestinian Authority was connected to the Oct 23 attack.Netanyahu is a long-time opponent of creating a Palestinian state, a stance shared by his main opponent Gadi Eisenkot ahead of the Oct 27 election. AFP