Hundreds of settlers protest recent attacks in the West Bank

As ministers deliberate response to brutal terror surge, demonstrators prevent Palestinians from riding on major road

By ToI Staff 3 July 2016, 1:33 am

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Israeli police look for evidence at the scene where Miki Mark was killed and three members of his family were wounded when a Palestinian terrorist opened fire on their car, on July 1, 2016, south of Hebron. (AFP/Hazem Bader)

Dozens of settlers staged protests in various locations throughout the West Bank on Saturday night to urge a harsh Israeli response to a series of brutal terror attacks in recent days.

The protests, headlined “A girl was slaughtered in her bed, a father was murdered in front of his children — we will not remain impassive,” took place while ministers were deliberating a response to the attacks in an emergency cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

The rallying cry was a reference to two attacks that took place late last week.

Near the entrance to Kiryat Arba, adjacent to Hebron, protesters blocked Route 60, the major north-south artery in the West Bank, and prevented Palestinians from driving through.

On Thursday, a 13-year-old Israeli girl, Hallel Yaffa Ariel, was stabbed to death there by a teenage Palestinian who entered her home.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (seated, second right) and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (seated, right) join mourners at the family home of slain teen Hallel Yaffa Ariel in Kiryat Arba on July 1, 2016, a day after she was murdered in her bed. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

A day later, a shooting attack near Hebron killed a rabbi, Miki Mark, and seriously injured his wife while they were driving on Route 60. Two of their children were also wounded.

Hallel Yaffe Ariel, 13, was killed in a stabbing attack in her bedroom in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, June 30, 2016. (Courtesy)

A second group of protesters on Saturday night blocked the road at the Beit Furik junction, near Nablus in the northern West Bank.

In response to the attacks, the IDF stepped up its troop presence in the West Bank, sending two battalions to help secure settlements and the main roads used by Israelis. A closure on Hebron was also imposed.

Politicians and public figures have demanded a tough response to the deadly violence, including the expulsion of terrorists’ families to Gaza or Syria, as suggested by Likud minister Yisrael Katz.

Miki Mark, who was murdered in a terror attack near Hebron on July 1, 2016 (Courtesy)

On Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman approved the publication of a tender to build 42 additional homes in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba.

According to reports, the tender was in the works six months ago but was essentially frozen by the government until it was revisited in response to last week’s attacks.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who leads the Orthodox-nationalist Jewish Home party, said he would present a far-reaching plan to halt the wave of terror attacks during the cabinet meeting Saturday night.

Suggestions included in his plan, he said, were the imprisonment or expulsion of terrorists’ families, the arrest of all Hamas operatives in the West Bank, the destruction of thousands of illegally built homes in the West Bank, the complete closure of assailants’ villages, the resumption of full military activity in West Bank areas that are under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

In addition, he said, he would seek to prevent Palestinian vehicles from traveling on Route 60, and disable the Internet in the entire Hebron region.