A day after US President George Bush expressed his confidence in the creation of a palestinian state, palestinian terrorists expressed their confidence that terrorism will gain them even more concessions.
Two Israeli security guards were shot dead overnight Friday in a shooting attack at the Nitzanei Shalom industrial zone, near the West Bank city of Tul Karm.
The bodies of the two middle-aged men were discovered Friday morning in a factory where in the industrial zone, on the boundary between Israeli territory and the Palestinian-ruled city.
Security officials said the attack was terror related. They suspect a militant from the Islamic Jihad organization infiltrated the industrial zone and opened fire at close range.
The victims were named as Shimon Mizrahi, 59, of Beit Hefer, and Eli Wasserman, 50, of Alfei Menashe.
The two guards were apparently screening Palestinians workers coming in when the gunman approached them, opened fire and then escaped, the military said.
“A Palestinian shot dead two guards at the security-check area at the entrance to the industrial zone,” an Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman said.
“We are treating this as a terrorist attack. It may have come from the outside, but there are also hundreds of Palestinians who work at Nitzanei Oz.”
There were no other casualties reported and no Palestinian militant group immediately claimed responsibility.
Rescue teams pronounced the two men dead on the site. Security officials were searching the area for the gunman, who is believed to have fled into Tul Karm.
Palestinian security officials in Tul Karm said IDF soldiers moved into the West Bank in force after the attack and set up a checkpoint.
Coming soon: palestinian complaining about checkpoints and their inability to work inside Israel.
And in a busy day(so far) for terrorists:
In a separate incident on Friday morning, Palestinians near the West Bank city of Ramallah hurled three firebombs at an Israeli vehicle driving in the area. There were no injuries.
Also Friday, three Qassam rockets fired by Palestinians in Gaza struck southern Ashkelon. One of the rockets hit a cemetery in the south of the city, causing some damage to tombstones.
A fourth Qassam was fired toward Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, in the western Negev.
The Aussie Dave family were at Ashkelon beach yesterday, and jokingly remarked that Qassams would put a dampener on things. Here’s a picture Mrs Aussie Dave took on the way back home, a reminder that none of us are that far from missile range.
Updates:
12:25PM: The Jerusalem Post has this interesting bit of information about the location of the shooting:
The Nitzane Shalom complex was built in 1995. It houses nine factories that provide jobs to many Palestinians from the West Bank.
A cynical exploitation of Israeli goodwill, just like the recent Nahal Oz fuel terminal terror attack.
For the record, Nitzane Shalom means “Buds of peace.”
2:12PM: More on the victims:
Shimon Mizrahi’s widow, Sara, arrived at the terminal after hearing from her sister-in-law that something had happened at the industrial zone. “I had a bad feeling, so I came,” she said, trembling.
She told Ynet that she had asked him not to go to work that day. “I told him to stay home. He was meant to be on vacation today. He shouldn’t have gone to work. This is my nightmare.”
Family members, friends and acquaintances of Eli Wasserman gathered at his home in Alfei Menashe following the attack. Wasserman was the manager of a factory at the industrial zone. He arrived Friday morning to pick up Palestinian workers and guard their entry, and was murdered.
Hisdai Eliezer, head of the Alfei Menashe Local Council, arrived at the family home and said that he had known Wasserman for many years. “Eli’s father was injured in 1968 during his military service, his brother was killed three months later as officer, and now he was killed in a place called ‘Nitzanei Hashalom’ (buds of peace).”
Hisdai added, “For years I have been saying that the industrial zone is one of the places just waiting to see a disaster. There is a gate inside the Palestinian territory, with guards standing and letting Palestinians in.”
Wasserman’s friends said that he was a quiet and shy person, whose family was loved by all the community members. He was survived by his wife, Chaya, and his two children, 30-year-old Ahiad and 28-year-old Michal. His funeral will take place on Sunday at 3 pm at the Netanya cemetery.
4:15PM: In further proof that killing Jews is great for popularity in palestinian areas, Ma’an reports that 5 terror organizations have claimed responsibility for this morning’s shooting attack – including the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, affiliated with Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah.
Five Palestinian resistance factions have claimed responsibility for shooting dead two Israeli security guards in the Tulkarem industrial zone on Friday.
Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades say they carried out the attack in co-ordination with the relatively unknown Al-Awda wa Nidal Brigades and the Ahrar Al-Muthalith Brigades, who are based inside Israel.
Ma’an also has more details on the attack:
A spokesperson telephoned Ma’an and said that three of their members targeted Israeli the security guards, using only one gun. They then escaped.
“The operation was two weeks in the planning and so the brigades rejected the ceasefire talks with Israel by Hamas and other factions,” the spokesperson said.
The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds brigades and the Al-Qassam Brigades the military wing of Hamas, also claimed responsibility for the operation in Tulkarem.
They sent a joint statement to Ma’an giving details of the operation – “At 5.15 am at dawn on Friday one of the resistance fighters was able to reach get into the location disguised as a woman. He went from near Tulkarem to the region of Nitzanei Shalom, which is the industrial zone located between the territory of Tulkarem and the lands of 1948. He then changed into a worker’s uniform and went to the area at 7.17 am at the same time as Palestinian workers enter the factories. The Palestinian youth that shot the guards was slightly injured but managed to escape safely.”
Some more facts to consider next time you hear palestinian women and workers complain about being stopped and checked at checkpoints.
