August 2010 West Bank shooting
Encyclopedia
The August 2010 West Bank shooting attack was an attack near Kiryat Arba
, carried out by Hamas
militants. Four Israeli settlers were killed after gunmen attacked their vehicle. The four victims, including a pregnant woman, were civilians from the West Bank
settlements of Beit Hagai
and Efrat
.
It was the deadliest Palestinian
attack on Israelis in over two years.
Hamas hailed the attack as "heroic" and promised further attempts to kill "illegal settlers" in the West Bank. Hamas supporters in Jabalia
publicly celebrated the killings. The attack was condemned by the United Nations
, Israel
and the Palestinian Authority.
The assailants were arrested by the Palestinian Authority but promptly released after Hamas accused the authority of treason. On 8 October, Israel arrested militants connected with the attack in a raid in which two Hamas operatives were killed.
close to the settlement of Kiryat Arba
. Near the entrance of the settlement, Hamas gunman began firing on the vehicle, killing the driver and forcing the car off the road. According to witnesses, the attackers then "approached the car" and shot the occupants in their seats at "close range."
The police believe that gunmen in the Palestinian drive-by shooting opened fire from a vehicle driving alongside the victim's car. A paramedic with Magen David Adom
described the scene to a journalist, saying that he saw "a car that was pierced with dozens of bullets and inside there were four bodies. There was absolutely no chance of helping."
's duplicitous response to acts of terrorism."
in Hebron Hills. Their names were Yitzhak and Tali Ames, ages 45 and 47. They were the parents of 6 children, ranging in age form 5 to 24, and of 1 grandchild. Tali was 9 months pregnant at the time of her death.
Kochava Even Chaim, a teacher in Efrat with an eight-year-old daughter, was killed. Her husband, was among the paramedics who responded to the shooting, to discover that his wife was among the victims.
The fourth victim was Avishai Shindler, who had recently moved with his wife to live in Beit Haggai.
Thousands of people attended funerals as the victims were buried in Jerusalem, Ashdod, and Petah Tikva
.
, claimed "full responsibility" for the attack and described it as a "heroic operation." In a separate statement, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri
said, "Hamas blesses the Hebron operation and considers it as a normal reaction to the occupation crime."
In a later CNN interview a Hamas leader living in Damascus, Khaled Mashaal, vowed "resistance" if the international community did not force Israel to return to its 1967 borders. When asked about the August attacks he stated that Hamas would continue to "kill illegal settlers on our land," although Hamas did not actually carry out any such attacks in the forthcoming period.
in northern Gaza
, "hundreds" of Hamas supporters celebrated the killings in the street after the evening prayer, as an imam urged them on over the loudspeakers of the mosque in the hours before Hamas acknowledged responsibility for the killings. In Gaza city, more than 3,000 Palestinians celebrated the attack.
Hamas legislator Mushir al-Masri spoke at the celebration, criticizing Mahmoud Abbas
for entering negotiations on the grounds that Abbas is “representing only himself.” According to Masri, killing the four Israelis “was the Palestinian people’s response to the talks.”
. Two days after the shootings, Hamas announced the formation of an alliance of 13 militant groups to launch a wave of "more effective attacks" against Israel, not ruling out suicide bombings when questioned.
Other analysts believe that the "true target" of the spate of attacks is the Palestinian Authority.
, Hamas had originally planned to abduct the bodies, hoping to secure a mass prisoner release for their return. The abductors had also reportedly hoped to sabotage the peace talks by provoking the IDF
into launching a large-scale search for the victims in the Palestinian territories
. These plans were foiled by the arrival of another car on the scene, causing the killers to flee.
referred to the attack as a "very grave incident" and said the Israeli military will "do everything they can to capture the murderers."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
dispatched Yuval Diskin
and Gabi Ashkenazi
, and directed them to respond to the attack without "any diplomatic constraints against the murderers, and act aggressively against those who sent them."
Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom
, who was acting prime minister at the time of the incident because Prime Minister Netanyahu was abroad, said, "There are those who continue to take the path of terror and are busy killing innocents," and "Today it is clearer more than ever that the real obstacle to peace is terrorism and the extremists who will do anything to send the entire region up in flames. It is incumbent on the Palestinian Authority to fulfill its obligations in the territories that are under its purview."
Prime Minister Salam Fayyad
condemned the attack and said it was designed to "undermine the PLO's efforts to rally international support for the Palestinians's demands." He said that the attack was in contradiction with the national interests of the Palestinians and the PA's strategic vision.
Palestinian security forces arrested up approximately 250 Hamas supporters in the West Bank, Hamas called the arrests an act of "treason."
—home of the four shooting victims—and attempted to set fire to a Palestinian field in the locality. A second group of settlers entered a Palestinian neighborhood in Hebron
and attempted to stone residents.
Yesha Council
, the largest of the Israeli settler organizations announced that it would stop obeying the Israeli government's construction freeze at 6 p.m. Wednesday, September 1, mere hours before peace talks are scheduled to begin in Washington, D.C., and that construction would go forward on "hundreds" of new homes in the settlements. The Palestinian Authority countered by announcing that it would pull out of the peace talks if the building freeze ends. A spokesman for the Israeli government said that the construction freeze would continue thorough September 26 as scheduled, and that Israel would proceed with the peace talks. However, he also said that attacks of this kind make it difficult for Israel to make compromises to achieve a peace agreement.
On September 1, 2010, in a direct response to the shooting, activist settlers and "hundreds" of members of Likud
holding placards that read "They shoot, we build" began construction in settlements across the West Bank, including a structure at the entrance to Kiryat Arba, very near the site of the attack.
responded by calling on Hamas to cease attacks on civilians. Ban Ki-moon
, Secretary-General of the United nations, said that "this attack must be recognized for what it is: a cynical and blatant attempt to undermine the direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations starting tomorrow."
, twelve others were arrested in the overnight operation between September 16 and 17. Hamas military wing said it is responsible for the killing at the end of August of four Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
is a religious and a moral duty.
According to the Wall Street Journal, this and a second Hamas shooting in the West Bank two days later, "cast a shadow" over face to face peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority just as they were about to begin in Washington, D.C. The Palestinian Authority responded to the shootings by arresting "dozens" of suspected Hamas activists in the West Bank.
According to the New York Times, the immediate Hamas claim of responsibility is out of the ordinary since in recent years Hamas has "refrained" from claiming responsibility for attacks. However, the reduction in rocket attacks on Israel launched form Gaza
had brought pressure on Hamas from Palestinian Arabs who question the group's commitment to fighting Israel. According to the Wall Street Journal, the attack "seemed aimed at torpedoing a new round of peace talks in Washington this week between Israel and the Palestinians." Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority "seized" the attack as an opportunity to press an agenda; Israel demanded firm guarantees that a West Bank controlled by the Palestinian Authority would not be used a base for attacks on Israel, and the Palestinian Authority demanded that Jewish settlements be removed.
An editorial in the Washington Post suggested that this incident would "cast a substantial shadow over the talks" citing two reasons. Like the New York Times Hamas's unusual assertion of responsibility was cited along with their further resolve to continue such attacks. A demonstration in Gaza in support of the attack was further cited as evidence that Hamas would not accept negotiations conducted by Mahmoud Abbas
on their behalf. The editorial secondly echoed Israel's concern that under Palestinian rule the West Bank could become a base for attacks against Israel.
where the militants suspected of carrying out the attack were holed up. Two of the suspects were killed upon storming the house and six others were arrested. The two dead were:
Hamas swore revenge for the operation and congratulated the Palestinians of Hebron for "continuing to sacrifice shaheeds in the fight against Israel". The Islamist group also derided the Palestinian Authority (PA) for the ongoing 2010 Israeli-Palestinian peace talks
and sharply criticized Fatah
for what it called Fatah's complicity in the operation and its persecution of Hamas, stating that Hamas would "not ask for Fatah's permission... to carry out more attacks".
The Palestinian Authority officially condemned the operation, but PA sources said privately that the Palestinian security establishment welcomed the elimination of al-Karmi because it would weaken the power of rival Hamas in the West Bank.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak
praised the security forces for the success of the operation: "The actions in Hebron are a rapid response to the murder of four Israelis in August of this year near Kiryat Arba. The IDF and security forces will continue to work everywhere with uncompromising determination against terror organizations to ensure continued peace in Judea and Samaria".
Kiryat Arba
Kiryat Arba or Qiryat Arba , lit. "Town of the Four," is an Israeli settlement in the Judean Mountains region of the West Bank on the edge of Hebron. Its settlers consist of a mix of Russian immigrants, American immigrants, and native-born Israelis numbering close to 10,000...
, carried out by Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
militants. Four Israeli settlers were killed after gunmen attacked their vehicle. The four victims, including a pregnant woman, were civilians from the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
settlements of Beit Hagai
Beit Hagai
Beit Hagai is an Israeli settlement located in the southern Hebron hills in the West Bank. The settlement population was 460 in 2004, according to a classified government document published by the Haaretz newspaper, and lies within the municipal jurisdiction of the Har Hebron Regional Council...
and Efrat
Efrat
Efrat , or officially Efrata , is an Israeli settlement established in 1983 and a local council in the Judean Mountains of the West Bank. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this...
.
It was the deadliest Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
attack on Israelis in over two years.
Hamas hailed the attack as "heroic" and promised further attempts to kill "illegal settlers" in the West Bank. Hamas supporters in Jabalia
Jabalia
Jabalia also Jabalya is a Palestinian city located north of Gaza City. It is under the jurisdiction of the North Gaza Governorate, in the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Jabalia had a population of 82,877 in mid-year 2006...
publicly celebrated the killings. The attack was condemned by the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and the Palestinian Authority.
The assailants were arrested by the Palestinian Authority but promptly released after Hamas accused the authority of treason. On 8 October, Israel arrested militants connected with the attack in a raid in which two Hamas operatives were killed.
The attack
A couple and two additional people hitching a ride were driving on Route 60Highway 60 (Israel)
Highway 60 is a north-south intercity road in Israel and the West Bank that stretches from Beersheba to Nazareth.-Route:The route is also known as the "Route of the Patriarchs" since it follows the path of the ancient highway that runs along the length of the central watershed, and which...
close to the settlement of Kiryat Arba
Kiryat Arba
Kiryat Arba or Qiryat Arba , lit. "Town of the Four," is an Israeli settlement in the Judean Mountains region of the West Bank on the edge of Hebron. Its settlers consist of a mix of Russian immigrants, American immigrants, and native-born Israelis numbering close to 10,000...
. Near the entrance of the settlement, Hamas gunman began firing on the vehicle, killing the driver and forcing the car off the road. According to witnesses, the attackers then "approached the car" and shot the occupants in their seats at "close range."
The police believe that gunmen in the Palestinian drive-by shooting opened fire from a vehicle driving alongside the victim's car. A paramedic with Magen David Adom
Magen David Adom
The Magen David Adom is Israel's national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance and blood bank service. The name means "Red Star of David"...
described the scene to a journalist, saying that he saw "a car that was pierced with dozens of bullets and inside there were four bodies. There was absolutely no chance of helping."
Arrests
Hamas declared the arrest of the attackers by the Palestinian Authority "treason." All of the arrested suspects were "quickly" released, reminding the editorial staff of the Washington Post of "Palestinian leader Yasser ArafatYasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
's duplicitous response to acts of terrorism."
Victims
One of the murdered couples was from a settlement of Beit HagaiBeit Hagai
Beit Hagai is an Israeli settlement located in the southern Hebron hills in the West Bank. The settlement population was 460 in 2004, according to a classified government document published by the Haaretz newspaper, and lies within the municipal jurisdiction of the Har Hebron Regional Council...
in Hebron Hills. Their names were Yitzhak and Tali Ames, ages 45 and 47. They were the parents of 6 children, ranging in age form 5 to 24, and of 1 grandchild. Tali was 9 months pregnant at the time of her death.
Kochava Even Chaim, a teacher in Efrat with an eight-year-old daughter, was killed. Her husband, was among the paramedics who responded to the shooting, to discover that his wife was among the victims.
The fourth victim was Avishai Shindler, who had recently moved with his wife to live in Beit Haggai.
Thousands of people attended funerals as the victims were buried in Jerusalem, Ashdod, and Petah Tikva
Petah Tikva
Petah Tikva known as Em HaMoshavot , is a city in the Center District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv.According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2009, the city's population stood at 209,600. The population density is approximately...
.
Hamas
Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam BrigadesIzz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades
The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades is the military wing of the Palestinian Islamist fundamentalist socio-political organisation Hamas. Created in 1992, under the direction of Yahya Ayyash, the primary objective of the group was to build a coherent military organisation to support the goals of...
, claimed "full responsibility" for the attack and described it as a "heroic operation." In a separate statement, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri
Sami Abu Zuhri
Sami Abu Zuhri is a senior spokesman for the Palestinian political party Hamas. Zuhri, a relatively unknown member of Hamas, gained notoriety on May 19, 2006, when Palestinian security and customs officials discovered he had 640,000 euros on his person; another report claimed he held a larger sum...
said, "Hamas blesses the Hebron operation and considers it as a normal reaction to the occupation crime."
In a later CNN interview a Hamas leader living in Damascus, Khaled Mashaal, vowed "resistance" if the international community did not force Israel to return to its 1967 borders. When asked about the August attacks he stated that Hamas would continue to "kill illegal settlers on our land," although Hamas did not actually carry out any such attacks in the forthcoming period.
Celebration
In the city of JabaliaJabalia
Jabalia also Jabalya is a Palestinian city located north of Gaza City. It is under the jurisdiction of the North Gaza Governorate, in the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Jabalia had a population of 82,877 in mid-year 2006...
in northern Gaza
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
, "hundreds" of Hamas supporters celebrated the killings in the street after the evening prayer, as an imam urged them on over the loudspeakers of the mosque in the hours before Hamas acknowledged responsibility for the killings. In Gaza city, more than 3,000 Palestinians celebrated the attack.
Hamas legislator Mushir al-Masri spoke at the celebration, criticizing Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas , also known by the kunya Abu Mazen , has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah ticket.Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally...
for entering negotiations on the grounds that Abbas is “representing only himself.” According to Masri, killing the four Israelis “was the Palestinian people’s response to the talks.”
Part of a political strategy
According to an unnamed Israeli security official, this was the start of a Hamas campaign of “terrorist attacks” designed to foil the 2010 peace talksDirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians in 2010
Direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority have been taking place since September 2010, between United States President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and ended when Netanyahu refused to extend...
. Two days after the shootings, Hamas announced the formation of an alliance of 13 militant groups to launch a wave of "more effective attacks" against Israel, not ruling out suicide bombings when questioned.
Other analysts believe that the "true target" of the spate of attacks is the Palestinian Authority.
Abduction plan
According to the Egyptian newspaper Al-AhramAl-Ahram
Al-Ahram , founded in 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya . It is majority owned by the Egyptian government....
, Hamas had originally planned to abduct the bodies, hoping to secure a mass prisoner release for their return. The abductors had also reportedly hoped to sabotage the peace talks by provoking the IDF
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
into launching a large-scale search for the victims in the Palestinian territories
Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...
. These plans were foiled by the arrival of another car on the scene, causing the killers to flee.
Israel
Israeli defense minister Ehud BarakEhud Barak
Ehud Barak is an Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister from 1999 until 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011 and holds the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister in Binyamin Netanyahu's government....
referred to the attack as a "very grave incident" and said the Israeli military will "do everything they can to capture the murderers."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
dispatched Yuval Diskin
Yuval Diskin
Yuval Diskin was the 12th Director of Shabak .In the Israel Defense Forces, Diskin served as deputy company commander of Sayeret Shaked . In 1978, he was recruited to the Shabak and served as area coordinator for the Nablus district...
and Gabi Ashkenazi
Gabi Ashkenazi
Gavriel "Gabi" Ashkenazi , was the Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defence Forces from 2007 to 2011.- Background and early life :...
, and directed them to respond to the attack without "any diplomatic constraints against the murderers, and act aggressively against those who sent them."
Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom
Silvan Shalom
' , born 4 October 1958) is an Israeli politician, member of the Knesset for Likud and the country's Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development. He previously served as the country's Foreign Minister and Finance Minister.-Biography:...
, who was acting prime minister at the time of the incident because Prime Minister Netanyahu was abroad, said, "There are those who continue to take the path of terror and are busy killing innocents," and "Today it is clearer more than ever that the real obstacle to peace is terrorism and the extremists who will do anything to send the entire region up in flames. It is incumbent on the Palestinian Authority to fulfill its obligations in the territories that are under its purview."
Palestinian Authority
Palestinian Authority President President Mahmoud Abbas said that the attack in the Hebron was designed to "disrupt the peace process. and can't be regarded as an act of resistance."Prime Minister Salam Fayyad
Salam Fayyad
Salam Fayyad is a Palestinian politician and Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority of the Palestinian National Authority. His first appointment, on 15 June 2007, which was justified by President Mahmoud Abbas on the basis of "national emergency", has not been confirmed by the...
condemned the attack and said it was designed to "undermine the PLO's efforts to rally international support for the Palestinians's demands." He said that the attack was in contradiction with the national interests of the Palestinians and the PA's strategic vision.
Palestinian security forces arrested up approximately 250 Hamas supporters in the West Bank, Hamas called the arrests an act of "treason."
Settlers
Israeli settlers were reportedly "enraged" by the attack. The chair of the South Mount Hebron settlers’ council, Tzviki Bar-Hai, asserted in an interview with a broadcast journalist that “For the past 100 years there has been a link between the Jewish people’s desire to live and the Arab people’s desire to kill us.” The day after the attack, several dozen settler youths stoned Palestinians near Beit HagaiBeit Hagai
Beit Hagai is an Israeli settlement located in the southern Hebron hills in the West Bank. The settlement population was 460 in 2004, according to a classified government document published by the Haaretz newspaper, and lies within the municipal jurisdiction of the Har Hebron Regional Council...
—home of the four shooting victims—and attempted to set fire to a Palestinian field in the locality. A second group of settlers entered a Palestinian neighborhood in Hebron
Hebron
Hebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...
and attempted to stone residents.
Yesha Council
Yesha Council
The Yesha Council is an umbrella organization of municipal councils of Jewish settlements in the West Bank , known by the Hebrew acronym Yesha.The Chairman of the Yesha Council is Dani Dayan, elected in July 2007...
, the largest of the Israeli settler organizations announced that it would stop obeying the Israeli government's construction freeze at 6 p.m. Wednesday, September 1, mere hours before peace talks are scheduled to begin in Washington, D.C., and that construction would go forward on "hundreds" of new homes in the settlements. The Palestinian Authority countered by announcing that it would pull out of the peace talks if the building freeze ends. A spokesman for the Israeli government said that the construction freeze would continue thorough September 26 as scheduled, and that Israel would proceed with the peace talks. However, he also said that attacks of this kind make it difficult for Israel to make compromises to achieve a peace agreement.
On September 1, 2010, in a direct response to the shooting, activist settlers and "hundreds" of members of Likud
Likud
Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had...
holding placards that read "They shoot, we build" began construction in settlements across the West Bank, including a structure at the entrance to Kiryat Arba, very near the site of the attack.
International
Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
responded by calling on Hamas to cease attacks on civilians. Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he...
, Secretary-General of the United nations, said that "this attack must be recognized for what it is: a cynical and blatant attempt to undermine the direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations starting tomorrow."
Military
Palestinian Authority and Israel forces started arresting Hamas supporters. Israeli forces killed Iyad Shilbaya, a commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam BrigadesIzz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades
The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades is the military wing of the Palestinian Islamist fundamentalist socio-political organisation Hamas. Created in 1992, under the direction of Yahya Ayyash, the primary objective of the group was to build a coherent military organisation to support the goals of...
, twelve others were arrested in the overnight operation between September 16 and 17. Hamas military wing said it is responsible for the killing at the end of August of four Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
Political ramifications
In a "fiery" speech shortly after the killings, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar rejected peace negotiations, asserting that "liberating" all of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean SeaMediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
is a religious and a moral duty.
According to the Wall Street Journal, this and a second Hamas shooting in the West Bank two days later, "cast a shadow" over face to face peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority just as they were about to begin in Washington, D.C. The Palestinian Authority responded to the shootings by arresting "dozens" of suspected Hamas activists in the West Bank.
According to the New York Times, the immediate Hamas claim of responsibility is out of the ordinary since in recent years Hamas has "refrained" from claiming responsibility for attacks. However, the reduction in rocket attacks on Israel launched form Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
had brought pressure on Hamas from Palestinian Arabs who question the group's commitment to fighting Israel. According to the Wall Street Journal, the attack "seemed aimed at torpedoing a new round of peace talks in Washington this week between Israel and the Palestinians." Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority "seized" the attack as an opportunity to press an agenda; Israel demanded firm guarantees that a West Bank controlled by the Palestinian Authority would not be used a base for attacks on Israel, and the Palestinian Authority demanded that Jewish settlements be removed.
An editorial in the Washington Post suggested that this incident would "cast a substantial shadow over the talks" citing two reasons. Like the New York Times Hamas's unusual assertion of responsibility was cited along with their further resolve to continue such attacks. A demonstration in Gaza in support of the attack was further cited as evidence that Hamas would not accept negotiations conducted by Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas , also known by the kunya Abu Mazen , has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah ticket.Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally...
on their behalf. The editorial secondly echoed Israel's concern that under Palestinian rule the West Bank could become a base for attacks against Israel.
Israeli response
On 8 October 2010 the IDF raided several buildings in HebronHebron
Hebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...
where the militants suspected of carrying out the attack were holed up. Two of the suspects were killed upon storming the house and six others were arrested. The two dead were:
- Nashaath al-Karmi (33), a senior Hamas member from TulkarmTulkarmTulkarem or Tulkarm is a Palestinian city in the northern Samarian mountain range in the Tulkarm Governorate in the extreme northwestern West Bank adjacent to the Netanya and Haifa districts to the west, the Nablus and Jenin Districts to the east...
. Karm had previously been imprisoned for terror-related activities but was freed in August 2009, after which he quickly returned to working for Hamas' military wing. - Mamoun al-Natshe (24), a low-level Hamas militant from Hebron. Natshe had been imprisoned in Israel for several months in 2008.
Hamas swore revenge for the operation and congratulated the Palestinians of Hebron for "continuing to sacrifice shaheeds in the fight against Israel". The Islamist group also derided the Palestinian Authority (PA) for the ongoing 2010 Israeli-Palestinian peace talks
Direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians in 2010
Direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority have been taking place since September 2010, between United States President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and ended when Netanyahu refused to extend...
and sharply criticized Fatah
Fatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
for what it called Fatah's complicity in the operation and its persecution of Hamas, stating that Hamas would "not ask for Fatah's permission... to carry out more attacks".
The Palestinian Authority officially condemned the operation, but PA sources said privately that the Palestinian security establishment welcomed the elimination of al-Karmi because it would weaken the power of rival Hamas in the West Bank.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak is an Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister from 1999 until 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011 and holds the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister in Binyamin Netanyahu's government....
praised the security forces for the success of the operation: "The actions in Hebron are a rapid response to the murder of four Israelis in August of this year near Kiryat Arba. The IDF and security forces will continue to work everywhere with uncompromising determination against terror organizations to ensure continued peace in Judea and Samaria".