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At least twelve Israelis were killed and 15 wounded Friday evening when Palestinian gunmen opened fire and tossed grenades at a group of Jewish settlers and IDF soldiers escorting them, as they made their way on foot back to the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba from Sabbath prayers at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron. Several of the wounded were in serious condition.
After the deadly ambush began, close to 7:30 P.M., soldiers rushed to the scene - an area popularly known as "worshippers' lane" - and also came under fire. Several were killed or wounded, Army Radio said.
Heavy gunbattles ensued between Palestinians and Israeli security forces in the area. Gunbattles raged for about 90 minutes, making it difficult for ambulances to reach the wounded. Military helicopters were used to assist in evacuating the wounded, and flares lit up the night sky over the city as soldiers searched for those who had carried out the attack.
"There was gunfire from left and right, from every possible angle, they were shooting at us from above," one man, who gave his name only as Arik, told Army Radio.
Towards midnight, troops killed two of the Palestinians who carried out the attack. Kalashnikov assault rifles and hand grenades were found near their bodies.
Israel Radio reported after midnight that troops had found the body of a third terrorist in the area where the attack had been carried out. It was not immediately clear if the three had other accomplices.
Eight of the wounded were taken to Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem. One was reported to be in critical condition, three in serious condition, and the rest were suffering from light to moderate wounds.
Eight others wounded in the attack were taken for treatment at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, most of them suffering from light to moderate wounds.
"It's a very grave incident on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath, close to the site of prayers," said army spokesman Lt. Col. Olivier Rafowicz. The Tomb of the Patriarchs is revered by both Jews and Muslims as the traditional burial place of the biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The head of Islamic Jihad said his organization had carried out the
attack. Speaking by telephone to al-Jazeera satellite television, Ramadan Shallah said it was retaliation for Israel's killing of one of the group's members, Iyad Sawalha, earlier this month in Jenin.
Senior Israeli defense officials held urgent consultations following the attack, while senior officers made their way to the scene to oversee the military's deployment there.
"It's a real problem to secure every centimeter... and this time, through
careful, intricate planning ... the attack succeeded," said reserve Col. Yoni Fiegel, a former commander of Hebron.
The IDF stopped patrolling most areas of Hebron controlled by the Palestinian Authority on October 25, as part of a plan promoted by then defense minister and Labor Party chairman Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, whereby troops would be pulled out of West Bank areas where relative quiet prevailed. Troops however retained their positions at two points - in the Abu Sneineh and Kharet el Sheikh neighborhoods - to ensure Palestinian gunmen did not fire on the Jewish enclave in the divided city.
Hebron: A city where politics and religion form explosive mix
Tension often runs high in Hebron, where some 450 Jewish settlers live under heavy army guard, among 130,000 Palestinians. The city was divided into Israeli- and Palestinian-controlled sectors under an interim peace deal signed in January 1997 by then prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
Hebron is a city where politics and religion have formed an explosive mix. While the Muslims in Hebron are among the most devout, the settlers living there are among the most radical, including some former members of the banned Kach movement. They often clash with Palestinians living in the city, and they have at times even assaulted soldiers who patrol the area.
In the early months of the intifada Palestinian gunmen used to fire at the Jewish enclave from the overlooking hilltops. In one incident, in March 2001, 10-month-old Shalhevet Pass was hit in the head and killed outside the Avraham Avinu compound by a Palestinian sniper perched in the Abu Sneineh neighborhood.
The city has a bloody history. In 1929, Arab residents rampaged through Hebron with guns and axes, shooting and hacking to death over 60 Jews and destroying the city's ancient Jewish quarter. In February 1994, Baruch Goldstein, a doctor from the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba, opened fire on Muslim worhsippers as they were praying in the Tomb of the Patriarchs, killing 29 people before he was bludgeoned to death.
Jews returned to Hebron after Israel conquered the West Bank in 1967. Determined to reestablish a Jewish presence in the city, a group of Orthodox Jews headed by Rabbi Moshe Levinger, a religious firebrand who preached belief in Greater Israel as part of the messianic redemption, arrived at the Park Hotel masquerading as tourists on the eve of Pessach in April 1968.
The group rented rooms and Levinger then publicly announced that they planned to stay. After lengthy negotiations, then defense minister Moshe Dayan agreed that the group could take up residence in the military compound overlooking the city.
The Labor-led government at the time later agreed to the establishment of the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba, which the settlers used as a springboard for establishing a permanent presence in Hebron. |
