This story took an odd turn when I saw an article posted about an Israeli motorist who had picked them up while they were hitchhiking in Hebron and given them a ride somewhere in the West Bank. He said he warned them that it wasn’t safe for them to be traveling at night like that. This seemed like a very strange series of events. Maybe it’s different in the Middle East, but I wouldn’t even hitchhike in my own neighborhood here in the U.S. — let alone in a bad area like Detroit or East St. Louis.
I don't know enough about the route they were taking and who uses the roads they were on to really venture a guess. But yeah, hitchhiking in area where militants/terrorists can even get to seems insane.
Here, I guess, is what we really don't know or understand. Did the hitchhiking even have anything to do with it? I mean, if terrorists can even use the road they are on (ie, a public road both Israeli's and Palestinians regularly used), all it would take is someone pulling up, aiming a gun at them, and demanding they get in. In that case this could have happened to any Israeli's who happened to be along side the road - wrong place, wrong time. The other possibility is they were fooled into accepting a ride which might indicate killers who could pass easily as either Israeli's or Palestinian business professionals or something that seemed safe.