Free Republic

A man in his 30s from Jerusalem attempted this morning (Sunday) to set a 12-year-old boy on fire during a bus ride on Route 375, near Beitar Illit. According to police, the background to the incident is a prior dispute between the suspect and the child’s father. The boy, who was on his way to an educational institution in Beitar Illit, was lightly injured in his hands. At a certain point, the bus driver noticed what was happening, stopped the bus, and allowed passengers to flee. The suspect tried to use the stop to escape but was apprehended by an...

Seven people, including a family of five with young children, were lightly wounded in the West Bank Friday afternoon when a Palestinian man hurled acid into their car, before being shot and seriously wounded. The attack occurred near a checkpoint between the Gush Etzion settlement of Beitar Illit, where the family is from, and the Palestinian village of Husan, southwest of Jerusalem. Palestinian news agency Ma’an identified the attacker as Jamal Abd al-Majid Ghayatha, 45, from the West Bank village of Nahalin. Media networks affiliated with Hamas said the man was a former Palestinian prisoner in Israel jail, Israel Radio...

The Israeli government defied American pressure on Wednesday and resolved to build hundreds of new homes inside a West Bank settlement as President George W Bush arrived to celebrate the country's 60th anniversary. Shortly after landing at Ben Gurion airport, Mr Bush hailed Israel as America's "strongest ally and friend in the Middle East" and praised the region's "only true democracy" for standing firm against the "forces of terror". The president's three-day visit will include an address to parliament on Thursday, marking the 60th anniversary of the country's foundation after British rule. Palestinians refer to this event as "al-nakbar" or...