Israeli soldier kills four Arab bus passengers
Sharon condemns attack as act of 'bloodthirsty Jewish terrorist'

Thursday, August 4, 2005; Posted: 8:24 p.m. EDT (00:24 GMT)

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- An Israeli soldier opened fire inside a bus in Israel's northern Galilee region Thursday, killing four Israeli Arabs and seriously wounding five other people before he was killed, according to Israeli police.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon condemned the attack, calling it "a reprehensible act of a bloodthirsty Jewish terrorist who sought to attack innocent Israeli citizens."

"This terrorist event was a deliberate attempt to harm the fabric of relations among all Israeli citizens," Sharon said in a statement issued by his office.

An angry mob in the predominantly Israeli Arab town of Shfaram surrounded the bus shortly after the shooting.

Police spokesman Eran Feinmesser could not confirm Israeli media reports that the gunman was killed by the mob.

The shooting victims included the bus driver and a passenger, both residents of Shfaram.

Sharon's statement added: "The entire State of Israel, regardless of race, religion or sex, strongly condemns this act of terrorism.

"The government is determined to protect the lives of Israel's citizens, from all ethnic communities and sectors; I have instructed the security services to accord the highest priority to investigating this terrorist attack."

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the shooter was an Israeli soldier.

Israeli television reported the soldier, a West Bank settler, went AWOL two months ago because he did not want to participate in removing settlers from Gaza and the West Bank as part of Sharon's disengagement plan.

Sharon vowed Monday that his plan to withdraw Israeli troops and about 9,000 Jewish settlers in Gaza and four small areas of the West Bank will go ahead as planned starting August 15.

Last month, Israel's parliament, the Knesset, rejected a bill by a 69-41 vote that would have delayed the pullout for three months.

The Israeli government has said the disengagement plan will redraw the landscape of the Middle East, allowing for the possible resumption of the peace process with the Palestinian Authority.

The plan has generated anger among Israeli settlers and their supporters, who have staged protests and scuffled with police and Palestinians in recent weeks.

The most recent protest took place Tuesday as hundreds of demonstrators gathered to march near the Gaza border. (Full story)

Organizers said the goal of the march was to tie up thousands of Israeli police and soldiers who otherwise would be training to handle the disengagement.

Israel closed off access to Gaza settlements by nonresidents last month to prevent protesters from disrupting the pullout.

Israel has controlled the 138-square-mile area of Gaza since capturing it from Egypt during the 1967 Six-Day War. It occupied the West Bank at the same time, wresting it from Jordan.

show me when the PA, Lebanon, Syria, Iran et al.. (some are helping the USA in The WOT) acts as Sharon did and I will look at both sides more evenly.

July 20, 2001

Jewish Extremists Blamed for Killing of Palestinians

Israeli security forces launched an intensive manhunt Friday for the perpetrators of a shooting attack near Hebron that killed three Palestinians, including an infant. All the victims were members of the same family, returning home from a wedding.

According to witnesses, a white vehicle parked at the Idna junction overtook the car in which the Palestinian family was riding, and its occupants opened fire. The attackers' car then turned around and sped off westward, apparently in the direction of the Israeli town of Kiryat Gat.

Three people were killed outright, and four others seriously injured. The dead were identified as Mohammed Salameh Etnizi, 22, Mohammed Hilmy Etnizi, 20, and an infant, 3-month-old Amira Wael Etnizi, all residents of Idna.

Police immediately put up roadblocks and began searching for the car with the aid of a helicopter, but without results. A police source told Israel Radio on Friday morning that the hunt for the perpetrators would be given first priority by police intelligence units.

According to the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, police and reporters received messages on their beepers claiming that the shooting was an act of revenge by "The Committee for Security on the Roads." Police regarded the statement as credible because it went out before any other reports of the shooting were known.

Attack draws condemnation from Israeli leaders and settlers
The attack drew condemnation from all sides of Israel's political spectrum, including from the mainstream settlers' movement. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon issued a statement condemning the attack, promising that, if the attack was, indeed, carried out by Jews, no effort would be spared to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

The Yesha Council of Jewish settlements issued a statement saying that "if an Israeli was responsible, the council strongly denounces the despicable act." The council said the attack--regardless of who carried it out--was "morally and legally foul and could cause enormous damage to the settlement movement."

President Moshe Katsav also strongly condemned the attack, and called on responsible leaders to take steps to prevent such despicable acts. "No one has the right to take the law into their own hands," he said.

Israeli security establishment is taking claims of responsibility seriously
If Jewish settlers were behind the shooting, it was the most serious attack by Jewish civilians against Palestinians in nearly 10 months of Palestinian-Israeli fighting. Extreme elements among the settlers have often vowed to retaliate for the frequent shootings of Jewish settlers on the roads, but this revenge has usually gone no further than vandalism against Palestinian fields or shops. The religious leaders of the settlement movements have constantly come out against "personal vengeance."

However, Israeli internal security services have recently warned that the situation in the disputed territories is in danger of escalation, and that Jewish extremist groups were known to be operating among the settlers.

General Security Service director Avi Dichter told a recent parliamentary security meeting that his agency believes Jewish terrorists to have been behind the killing of a Palestinian truck driver near Ramallah in June, as well as several other non-fatal shooting attacks in the Hebron area. The shootings had been initially attributed to a case of mistaken identity by Palestinian gunmen, who frequently target Jewish vehicles on the roads.

However, the similarity of Thursday's shooting to the killing of the Palestinian truck driver suggests that the two attacks may have been carried out by the same group. In both cases, the assailants reportedly collected shell casings from the scene before fleeing. In the earlier shooting, just as in the present one, the claim of responsibility was received by beeper, though under a different name.

The previous shooting was claimed by the "Shalhevet-Zar Brigades," apparently named after Shalhevet Pas, a 10-month-old baby slain by Palestinian snipers in Hebron, and Gil'ad Zar, who was killed in a roadside ambush several months ago. This claim was largely regarded as spurious at the time. Nevertheless, the possibility of Jewish terror cells springing up in the territories triggered a good deal of public debate--and behind the scenes investigation--into the more extreme elements of the settler community.

The name "Committee for Security on the Roads" was originally used by a Jewish vigilante group affiliated with the outlawed Kach movement. The group first surfaced during the previous "Intifada," when several of its members were arrested for harrassing Palestinian residents of Hebron and vandalizing their property. More recently, the name was revived by a vigilante group that has claimed responsibility for puncturing the tires of some 40 Palestinian-owned cars and an arson attack against a Palestinian shop in Hebron.

Earlier this week, Noam Federman, a well-known Kach activist from Hebron, was questioned by police and Israeli internal intelligence, after a grenade detonated in his car. Police suspect that he had stored military ammunition and stun grenades in the car, one of which accidentally exploded after his wife parked in a parking lot in Kiryat Arba.

Palestinian Authority blames Israel for the murders
A spokesman for Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat claimed that the Israeli government should be held responsible for the shooting attack near Hebron in the same way that Israel holds the PA responsible for Palestinian attacks.

Reacting to that statement, Dore Gold, an adviser to Prime Minister Sharon, told the Associated Press, "We don't know who perpetrated this attack, but if it is a group of Israelis, this represents a renegade and criminal operation. In contrast, the attacks against Israelis are being perpetrated by the main security arms of the Palestinian Authority, like Force 17 and the Tanzim."

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said that the murder of the three Palestinian civilians last night is just as reprehensible as the killing of Israelis by Yasser Arafat's Tanzim or the Islamic Jihad. In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, Ben-Eliezer said that he was confident that the General Security Service would be able to hunt down the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

Sources: Israel Radio, IDF Radio, Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post

Israel takes pains to be just. That is why I support them also. They are not perfect, and they can be excessive, but if I were an Israeli I would support going after those who attack us. The nations and governments around Israel have to be accountable for who operates on their land, and what they do from their land.

The PA's security forces have had spurts of activity where they have acted responsibly as the Israeli security and police forces do, but Hamas like Hezzbollah keeps them from being effective.

They get some credit, but the Palestinians need to stop supporting terrorism. Those days are over,.. They want to have/be a natin with credibilty and welcomed into the world of peace? Easy, reject terrorism, the Irsh did and look what it got them....peace.

Exactly and people need to stop hiding behind road blocks to peace like "the right of return" which will never be dealt with to anybody's complete satisfaction.

The Palestinians have a just cause...if that cause is a homeland beside the state of Israel.