Four killed, two wounded

Two Israelis were wounded in a West Bank shooting attack Sept. 1, a day after four Israelis were killed in a similar attack. The attack on an Israeli car occurred at the Rimonim Junction east of Ramallah. The car was hit at least 10 times in a drive-by shooting, then overturned on the side of the road. The couple, in their 30s, was able to get out of the car and hide in a ditch, according to reports. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack and said it would continue its “operations of resistance,” Reuters reported. Hamas’ armed wing also claimed responsibility for the Aug. 31 shooting attack. Earlier on Sept. 1, hundreds attended the funerals of the four Israelis killed the previous by a Palestinian faction reportedly trying to scuttle the start of peace talks. Yitzhak Ames, 47, and his wife Tali, 45; Kochava Even-Haim, 37, and Avishai Schindler, 24, all from Beit Hagai in the southern Hebron Hills, were buried on Sept. 1. The Ames couple were the parents of six children ranging in age from 1-1/2 to 19. Even-Haim had an eight-year-old daughter. Palestinian Authority security forces arrested more than 200 Hamas-affiliated suspects in the Hebron area in connection with the shootings, when gunmen opened fire on the victims’ car at the entrance to Kiryat Arba, near Hebron. On Aug. 31, PA President Mahmoud Abbas night condemned “all acts that target Palestinian and Israeli civilians,” adding that the attack was meant to “disrupt the peace process and can’t be regarded as an act of resistance.”

Building again is response to terror

A settlers’ umbrella group unilaterally ended the West Bank construction moratorium in response to the terror attack near Hebron. Hundreds of settlers gathered at sites throughout the West Bank to begin construction on several structures whose building was delayed by the freeze on building in the West Bank, which began in late November 2009 and is to end Sept. 26. The Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria had announced Sept. 1 that the building would begin at 6 p.m. that day – the same time that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. President Barack Obama and just hours before the start of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. “This brutal attack again proved that despite what might be going on in Washington right now, the Palestinians have no goal to create a peaceful state for themselves, but are entirely driven to destroy our state and our people,” said Naftali Bennett, director general of the Yesha Council.

NBA players visit Peres

Ten past and present NBA players visited Israeli President Shimon Peres at his Jerusalem office last week. The visit by the hoopsters, under the auspices of the America Israel Public Affairs Committee, generated much excitement in the halls of the President’s Residence, with staff members vying to take photos with the players. “We’re here to stand in support of Israel,” Allan Houston, a former star with the New York Knicks and now in the team’s front office, told Peres. Omri Casspi of the Sacramento Kings, the first Israeli to play in the National Basketball Association, was part of the delegation. AIPAC brought the players to Israel to educate them about the U.S.-Israel relationship, since they are influential with the American public, an AIPAC official told the Jerusalem Post. Peres was given a basketball autographed by all the players as well as an official game jersey. Peres passed the ball to his aides, who passed it among themselves after the presentation. Other delegation members included Jerome Williams, David Wood and Dwight Howard Sr., the father of Orlando Magic all-star Dwight Howard, as well as Memphis Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace.
File from JTA