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| August 2010 West Bank shooting | |
|---|---|
| Location | Route 60 |
| Date | August 31, 2010 |
| Target | Israeli settlers |
| Attack type | shooting, mass-murder |
| Deaths | 4 |
| Injured | 0 |
| Perpetrators | Hamas |
The 31 August 2010 West Bank shooting was a Palestinian terror attack near the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba. 4 Israeli civilians, including a pregnant woman, were killed after Hamas militants attacked their vehicle. It was the deadliest Palestinian attack on Israelis in over two years.
Attack
The police believe that gunmen opened fire from a vehicle driving alongside the victim's car, and that the victim's car may have been forced off the road after the driver was killed. A paramedic with Magen David Adom described the scene to a journalist, saying that he saw "a car that was pierced with dozens of bullets and inside there were four bodies. There was absolutely no chance of helping." The shooting took place in two phases, an initial attack, and a second shootong of the victims at close range after their car was stopped.
Victims
One of the murdered couples was from a settlement of Beit Hagai in Hebron Hills. Their names were Yitzhak and Tali Ames, ages 45 and 47. They were the parents of 6 children, ranging in age form 5 to 24, and of 1 grandchild.
Kochava Even Chaim, a teacher in Efrat with an 8 year-old daughter was killed. Her husband, was among the paramedics who responded to the shooting, to discover that his wife was among the victims.
The fourth victim was Avishai Shindler, who had recently moved with his wife to live in Beit Haggai.
Thousands of people attended funerals as the victims were buried in Jerusalem, Ashdod, and Petah Tikva.
Claims of responsibility
According to Agence France-Presse, the military wing of Hamas issued a statement reading, "The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigade claims full responsibility.",
In a separate statement, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said, "Hamas blesses the Hebron operation and considers it as a normal reaction to the occupation crime."
Similar incidents
The day after the deadly shootings near Kiryat Arba, 2 Israeli civilians were wounded after their vehicle came under fire by militants while driving between Kochav Yaakov and Rimonim Junction. The attacks were regarded as part of a new campaign of Palestinian violence ained at derailing the ongoing peace talks.
Statements
Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom, who was acting prime minister at the time of the incident because Prime Minister Netanyahu was abroad, said, "Unfortunately we are once again witness to the fact that while we are working to find ways to co-exist and create a reality of peace, there are those who continue to take the path of terror and are busy killing innocents," and "Today it is clearer more than ever that the real obstacle to peace is terrorism and the extremists who will do anything to send the entire region up in flames. It is incumbent on the Palestinian Authority to fulfill its obligations in the territories that are under its purview."
Nabil Abu Rudeina, a senior adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas quickly denounced the attack, saying, "We are against the killing of any kind of civilians from both sides, and we consider this attack a violation that can not be permitted."
Response
In the city of Jabalia in northern Gaza, "hundreds" of Hamas supporters celebrated the killings in the street after the evening prayer, as an imam urged them on over the loudspeakers of the mosque in the hours before Hamas acknowledged responsibility for the killings. Hamas legislator Mushir al-Masri spoke at the celebration, criticizing Mahmoud Abbas for entering negotiations on the grounds that Abbas is “representing only himself.” According to Masri, killing the four Israelis “was the Palestinian people’s response to the talks.”
The chair of the South Mount Hebron settlers’ council, Tzviki Bar-Hai, told a broadcast journalist tthat, “For the past 100 years there has been a link between the Jewish people’s desire to live and the Arab people’s desire to kill us.”
The Palestinian Authority responded by arresting up approximately 250 Hamas supporters in the West Bank, Hamas called the arrests an act of "treason."
Political ramifications
In a "fiery" speech shortly after the killings, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar rejected peace negotiations, asserting that "liberating" all of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea is a religious and a moral duty.
According to the Wall Street Journal, this and a second Hamas shooting in the West Bank two days later, "cast a shadow" over face to face peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority just as they were about to begin in Washington, D.C. The Palestinian Authority responded ot the shootings by arresting "dozens" of suspected Hamas activists in the West Bank.
According to the New York Times, the immediate Hamas claim of responsibility is out of the ordinary since in recent years Hamas has "refrained" from claiming responsibility for attacks. However, the reduction in rocket attacks on Israel launched form Gaza had brought pressure on Hamas from Palestinian Arabs who question the group's commitment to fighting Israel. According to the Wall Street Journal, the attack "seemed aimed at torpedoing a new round of peace talks in Washington this week between Israel and the Palestinians." Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority "seized" the attack as an opportunity to press an agenda; Israel demanded firm guarantees that a West Bank controlled by the Palestinian Authority would not be used a base for attacks on Israel, and the Palestinian Authority demanded that Jewish settlements be removed.
Yesha Council, the largest of the Israeli settler organizations announced that it would stop obeying the Israeli government's construction freeze at 6 p.m. Wednesday, September 1, mere hours before peace talks are scheduled to begin in Washington, D.C., and that construction would go forward on "hundreds" of new homes in the settlements. The Palestinian Authority countered by announcing that it would pull out of the peace talks if the building freeze ends. A spokesman for the Israeli government said that the construction freeze would continue thorough September 26 as scheduled, and that Israel would proceed with the peace talks. However, he also said that attacks of this kind make it difficult for Israel to make compromises to achieve a peace agreement.
On September 1, 2010, in a direct response to the shooting, activist settlers and "hundreds" of members of Likud holding placards that read "They shoot, we build" began construction in settlements across the West Bank, including a structure at the entrance to Kiryat Arba, very near the site of the attack.
See also
References
- " 4 Israelis shot dead by terrorists in West Bank," Yaakov Katz and Yaakov Lappin, 08/31/2010, Jerusalem Pst.
- ^ "Hamas Hits Israel in Threat to Talks," Charles Levinson, September 1, 2010, Wall Street Journal.
- ^ "4 Israelis shot dead, shattering years of relative calm in West Bank," Anshel Pfeffer, Chaim Levinson, Jonathan Lis, Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel, September 1, 2010, Ha'aretz.
- ^ " 'There hasn't been a group like this since Rabbi Akiva,' Hundreds gather to mourn 4 victims of Kiryat Arba terror attack; funerals to be held in Jerusalem, Ashdod, Petah Tikva." September 1, 2010, Jerusalem Post.
- ^ "Four Israelis killed by Hamas terrorists in West Bank," Ministry of Foreigh Affairs, Israel.
- ^ "Tensions Rise as Mideast Talks Begin; As Summit Opens in Washington, a Second Shooting and Protests by West Bank Settlers Raise the Threat to Peace," Charles Levinson, Jay Solomon, September2, 2010, Wall Stret Journal.
- ^ "Four Israelis killed in West Bank shooting, Hamas rejoices," Hazem Bader, Sept. 1, 2010, AFP.
- "2 injured in West Bank terror attack near Rimonim Junction". Jerusalem Post. September 1, 2010. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/world/middleeast/01settlers.html?_r=1&ref=world "Killing of Israeli Settlers Rattles Leaders, Isabel Kershner, Mark Lander, August 31, 2010, New York Times.
- ^ "Hamas leader rejects compromise, peace with Israel," AP September 1, 2010, Jerusalem Post.
- " Settlers begin construction in settlements all over W.Bank; Residents hold signs saying 'They shoot, we build.' staff, September 1, 2010, Jerusalem Post.