Settlers want IDF to treat stone-throwing as live fire
The news report, 1) from Ynet says that stone-throwing incidents are more frequent; a report 2) from Arutz Sheva, the settlers’ platform, says ‘terror attacks’ are down. News report from JPost, 3) on the car crash that sparked the call for IDF action.
Is this Palestinians stone-thrower the same as
this IDF sniper? From the IDF Blog: “Nothing compares to the feeling a sniper has during an operation. While you’re watching your target from miles away and studying his every move, he is completely unaware that he is being watched”. Photos by Abed Omar Qusini, Reuters and IDF blog
Settlers demand change in rules of engagement: ‘Stones also kill’
West Bank Jews urge stone-throwing be treated the same as live fire, following recent attacks on routes 5 and 443; data shows surge in stone-throwing attacks, with 250 incidents in February alone
Akiva Novick, Ynet news
27 March, 2013
Settlers, backed by Knesset Member Avigdor Lieberman, are urging the IDF to change its rules of engagement and treat stone-throwing the same as live fire.
The appeal followed a recent surge in stone-throwing incidents across the West Bank, which culminated in the severe injury of three-year-old Adele Biton on Route no. 5, a main road across Samaria.
Following November’s Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza, the number of stone-throwing attacks leaped to 70 in December, 120 in January and 250 in February.
The central areas for stone-throwing are the Gush Etzion-Hebron road, the Huwara village near Nablus, Wadi Haramieh and recently also main roads such as Route no. 5 and Route no. 443 between Modiin and Jerusalem.
“People I don’t know tried to kill me,” complained Rabbi Haim Navon, whose windshield was smashed by a stone on Route 443 over the weekend.
“You can’t say anymore that it’s only about some secluded roads on the way to a settlement at the end of the world,” he said.
“But stone-violence in these far-off areas mustn’t be tolerated, because if you tolerate that, you will have to face the same on Route no. 443. And if we keep holding ourselves back, we’ll get stones on Route 1 as well.”
Over the last few days settler leaders have appealed the political echelon to change the rules of engagement, which determine what provides sufficient cause for opening fire, and asked that stone-throwing be treated the same as live-fire, as “a stone also kills.”
The appeal was led by Yesha Chairman Avi Roeh and backed by former foreign minister and current MK Lieberman.
But the increase in stone-throwing incidents is just a part of a general trend. According to Shin Bet data, not including stone-throwings, January saw 83 terror attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem, compared to 41 the previous year.
In February, the number rose to 138, including the planting of 15 explosive charges, 2 stabbings, one attack in which an Israeli was run over and 119 Molotov cocktails lobbed at Israeli citizens.
Shin Bet: Number of Terror Attacks Down in January
The number of terror attacks against Israeli citizens was down in January, according to the Shin Bet’s monthly summary.
By Elad Benari, Arutz Sheva
February 05, 2013
The number of terror attacks against Israeli citizens was down in January, according to statistics released Monday by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet).
The Shin Bet noted in its monthly summary that a total of 83 attacks were recorded in January of 2013, showing a decline in the number of attacks, as opposed to 112 attacks in December 2012.
January saw no attacks from Gaza as opposed to one attack in December, noted the summary. There has been also a decline in the number of attacks in Judea and Samaria: 56 attacks as opposed to 81 in December. Jerusalem also saw a slight decrease: 27 attacks as opposed to 30 in December.
Three Israelis were injured during attacks in January, noted the summary: an Israeli citizen was moderately injured in a stabbing attack in Samaria on January 29, and two security officers were injured in Judea by a firebomb near Al Aroub on January 3 and stone throwing in the nearby area of the Tomb of Rachel on January 13.
In Jerusalem and the Judea and Samaria area, most of the attacks executed in January – 70 out of 83 – were in the form of firebombs, compared to 98 out of 111 in December.
Seven of the terror attacks were in the form of an improvised explosive device (IED); five were small arms shooting; one was stabbing; 70 were firebombs, 27 of which were in Jerusalem.
Throughout January 2013 no rockets or mortar shells were launched into Israel from Gaza, as opposed to two mortar shell launchings in December 2012.
On Sunday it was reported that the Shin Bet and Border Guard had foiled on January 1 another attempt by Palestinian Authority Arab terrorists to kidnap an Israeli.
The attempted attack took place when members of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization tried to make their way into Israel through one of the crossings from PA territory.
The terror cell was arrested in a joint operation by Israeli security personnel as its members tried to enter Israel. Two of its members are residents of the PA city of Jenin, one is from Kalansawe, another is a resident of the northern Israeli Arab city of Umm el-Fahm, and another is an inmate in an Israeli prison.
On Monday it was revealed that the Shin Bet and the IDF have arrested members of a terror gang who were involved in a shooting attack near Neve Tzuf in December 2012.
The incident occurred in mid-December. Terrorists fired about 30 shots at a vehicle driving next to the town. Nearly caught up in the crossfire was a resident of the town who was waiting for a ride on the main road. Miraculously he was uninjured.
Last week the Shin Bet said it had uncovered and apprehended a Hamas terror squad in Hevron, arresting some 20 members of the terror group’s armed wing.
The Shin Bet and army arrested “approximately 20 terrorists affiliated with Hamas who were planning a kidnapping attack in order to bargain for the release of prisoners,” said a Shin Bet statement.
IDF nabs 10 in Route 5 stone-throwing attack
By Yaakov Lappin, Tovah Lazaroff, Ben Hartman, JPost
March 15, 2013
Stones thrown at vehicles near Ariel caused a serious crash that left a toddler fighting for her life.
IDF special forces arrested ten Palestinian men overnight Friday on suspicion of hurling rocks at an Israeli vehicle and being behind an attack that led the car to veer off the road, hit a truck, and leave a three-year-old girl fighting for her life. Three members of her family were moderately injured in the incident.
The suspects were arrested after “accurate intelligence that was quickly assembled” reached the army, the IDF said. Duvdevan undercover soldiers took part in the arrest operation.
Eights suspects were arrested in the village of Haras, and two in the village of Harath, southeast of Kalkiliya.
The arrest operation was led by the commander of the Efraim Regional Brigade, Col. Ran Kahana. The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the Israel Police also took part. The suspects have been taken for questioning.
The IDF said it took a grave view of rock throwing attacks, and vowed to continue to act overtly and covertly to secure the residents of the area.
A senior army source told The Jerusalem Post, “We will, through intelligence and operational steps, seek to capture the attackers.”
Among those lightly wounded on the bus by glass shattered by rocks was the wife of former Likud MK Yehiel Hazon.
But the Magen David Adom medics who raced to the scene near the Barkan settlement, not far from Ariel, around 6:25 p.m. focused on the mother, 32, and her daughters, aged two, four and six.
It took 25 minutes to pull the family out of the car, medic Muawia Kabha said.
IDF special forces arrested ten Palestinian men overnight Friday on suspicion of hurling rocks at an Israeli vehicle and being behind an attack that led the car to veer off the road, hit a truck, and leave a three-year-old girl fighting for her life. Three members of her family were moderately injured in the incident.
The suspects were arrested after “accurate intelligence that was quickly assembled” reached the army, the IDF said. Duvdevan undercover soldiers took part in the arrest operation.
Eights suspects were arrested in the village of Haras, and two in the village of Harath, southeast of Kalkiliya.
The arrest operation was led by the commander of the Efraim Regional Brigade, Col. Ran Kahana. The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the Israel Police also took part. The suspects have been taken for questioning.
The IDF said it took a grave view of rock throwing attacks, and vowed to continue to act overtly and covertly to secure the residents of the area.
A senior army source told The Jerusalem Post, “We will, through intelligence and operational steps, seek to capture the attackers.”
Among those lightly wounded on the bus by glass shattered by rocks was the wife of former Likud MK Yehiel Hazon.
But the Magen David Adom medics who raced to the scene near the Barkan settlement, not far from Ariel, around 6:25 p.m. focused on the mother, 32, and her daughters, aged two, four and six.
It took 25 minutes to pull the family out of the car, medic Muawia Kabha said.
IDF special forces arrested ten Palestinian men overnight Friday on suspicion of hurling rocks at an Israeli vehicle and being behind an attack that led the car to veer off the road, hit a truck, and leave a three-year-old girl fighting for her life. Three members of her family were moderately injured in the incident.
The suspects were arrested after “accurate intelligence that was quickly assembled” reached the army, the IDF said. Duvdevan undercover soldiers took part in the arrest operation.
Eights suspects were arrested in the village of Haras, and two in the village of Harath, southeast of Kalkiliya.
The arrest operation was led by the commander of the Efraim Regional Brigade, Col. Ran Kahana. The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the Israel Police also took part. The suspects have been taken for questioning.
The IDF said it took a grave view of rock throwing attacks, and vowed to continue to act overtly and covertly to secure the residents of the area.
A senior army source told The Jerusalem Post, “We will, through intelligence and operational steps, seek to capture the attackers.”
Among those lightly wounded on the bus by glass shattered by rocks was the wife of former Likud MK Yehiel Hazon.
But the Magen David Adom medics who raced to the scene near the Barkan settlement, not far from Ariel, around 6:25 p.m. focused on the mother, 32, and her daughters, aged two, four and six.
It took 25 minutes to pull the family out of the car, medic Muawia Kabha said.
IDF special forces arrested ten Palestinian men overnight Friday on suspicion of hurling rocks at an Israeli vehicle and being behind an attack that led the car to veer off the road, hit a truck, and leave a three-year-old girl fighting for her life. Three members of her family were moderately injured in the incident.
The suspects were arrested after “accurate intelligence that was quickly assembled” reached the army, the IDF said. Duvdevan undercover soldiers took part in the arrest operation.
Eights suspects were arrested in the village of Haras, and two in the village of Harath, southeast of Kalkiliya.
The arrest operation was led by the commander of the Efraim Regional Brigade, Col. Ran Kahana. The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the Israel Police also took part. The suspects have been taken for questioning.
The IDF said it took a grave view of rock throwing attacks, and vowed to continue to act overtly and covertly to secure the residents of the area.
A senior army source told The Jerusalem Post, “We will, through intelligence and operational steps, seek to capture the attackers.”
Among those lightly wounded on the bus by glass shattered by rocks was the wife of former Likud MK Yehiel Hazon.
But the Magen David Adom medics who raced to the scene near the Barkan settlement, not far from Ariel, around 6:25 p.m. focused on the mother, 32, and her daughters, aged two, four and six.
The mother was also in moderate condition but was conscious, Kabha said. The two girls in the back seat were moderately wounded, because they were not in the part of the vehicle trapped under the truck, he said.
“It was an awful scene. It looked like a terrorist attack,” he added.
The mother, the toddler and the six-year-old were moved to Schneider Hospital after being taken to the Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva, while the four-year-old was sent to Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer.
Spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said police had received a number of calls about stone-throwing on the road at that time.
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) released a report on Tuesday documenting a significant rise in Palestinian attacks in the West Bank and east Jerusalem in February.
A total of 139 attacks, including firebombings and the use of improvised explosives, took place in February, compared to 83 in January.
One hundred of February’s attacks took place in the West Bank – 84 of them firebombings – compared to 56 in the previous month.
In the capital, 38 attacks – 35 of them firebombings – were registered by the Shin Bet in February, compared to 27 in January.
It took 25 minutes to pull the family out of the car, medic Muawia Kabha said.