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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

A couple and two additional people hitching a ride were driving on Route 60 close to the settlement of Kiryat Arba. Near the entrance of the settlement, Hamas gunman began firing on the vehicle, killing the driver and forcing the car off the road. According to witnesses, the attackers than "approached the car" and shot the occupants in their seats at "close range."

The police believe that gunmen opened fire from a vehicle driving alongside the victim's car. 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.

Reactions

Hamas

Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Izz al-Din al-Qassam, claimed "full responsibility" for the attack and described it as a "heroic operation."

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."

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.”

Three days after the shootings, Hamas announced the formation of an alliance of 13 militant gorups to launch a wave of "more effective attacks" against Israelis, saying that this would include rocket attacks and that suicide bombings would not be ruled out.

Israel

Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak referred to the attack as a "very grave incident" and said the Israeli military will "do everything they can to capture the murderers."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dispatched Yuval Diskin and Gabi Ashkenazi, and directed them to respond to the attack without "any diplomatic constraints against the murderers, and act aggressively against those who sent them."

Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom, who was acting prime minister at the time of the incident because Prime Minister Netanyahu was abroad, said, "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."

Palestinian Authority

Palestinian Authority President President Mahmoud Abbas said that the attack in the Hebron was designed to "disrupt the peace process. and can't be regarded as an act of resistance."

Prime Minister Salam Fayyad condemned the attack and said it was designed to "undermine the PLO's efforts to rally international support for the Palestinians's demands." He said that the attack was in contradiction with the national interests of the Palestinians and the PA's strategic vision.

Palestinian security forces arrested up approximately 250 Hamas supporters in the West Bank, Hamas called the arrests an act of "treason."

Settlers

The chair of the South Mount Hebron settlers’ council, Tzviki Bar-Hai, told a broadcast journalist that, “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.”

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.

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.

Legal aspect

UN resolution 2908: "Reaffirms its recognition of the legitimacy of the struggle of the colonial peoples and peoples under alien domination to exercise their right to self-determination and independence by all the necessary means at their disposal"

See also

• June 2010 West Bank shooting
• Tapuah junction stabbing

References

1. " 4 Israelis shot dead by terrorists in West Bank," Yaakov Katz and Yaakov Lappin, 08/31/2010, Jerusalem Pst.
2. ^ "Hamas Hits Israel in Threat to Talks," Charles Levinson, September 1, 2010, Wall Street Journal.
3. ^ "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.
4. ^ " '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.
5. ^ "Four Israelis killed by Hamas terrorists in West Bank," Ministry of Foreigh Affairs, Israel.
6. ^ "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.
7. ^ "Four Israelis killed in West Bank shooting, Hamas rejoices," Hazem Bader, Sept. 1, 2010, AFP.
8. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3947213,00.html
9. ^ [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.
10. "Hamas to launch 'more effective attacks' on Israel," September 3, 2010, Jerusalem Post.
11. http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=186640 PM: 'Terrorism will not determine Israel’s borders'
12. ^ "Hamas leader rejects compromise, peace with Israel," AP September 1, 2010, Jerusalem Post.
13. " Settlers begin construction in settlements all over W.Bank; Residents hold signs saying 'They shoot, we build.' staff, September 1, 2010, Jerusalem Post.
14. UN resolution 2908

• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
• 2010 in the Palestinian territories
• Terrorist incidents in 2010