4 Israeli Children, Mother Murdered by Palestinian Terrorists
By Joel
Leyden
Israel News Agency
Jerusalem----May 2....Palestinian
terrorists murdered five members of an Israeli family, a mother and her
four young children, this afternoon. The terror attack targeted the family
vehicle while it was traveling on the road that leads to the Gaza Strip
settlement bloc of Gush Katif.
Another Israeli civilian traveling in a separate car suffered moderate
gunfire wounds in the attack near the Netzer Hazani settlement.
The terrorists arrived by car from the nearby Palestinian village of Dir al Ballah and began to fire at passing Israeli vehicles, consequently killing the mother and her four children. Another Israeli traveling in the opposite direction, was also wounded.
An Israel Defense Forces jeep arrived at the scene and engaged in gunfire with the terrorists, killing them. During the gun battle an explosion took place but it was still unclear whether it was caused by a grenade or by a bomb.
Two IDF Givati brigade soldiers were wounded during the gun battle and were airlifted to Soroka hospital in Be'er Sheva together with the Israeli civilian.
Following the terror attack, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz canceled his participation in the groundbreaking ceremony of the Center of Human Dignity Museum of Tolerance, sponsored by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, in Jerusalem Sunday.
The terror attack only provided fuel for Jewish settler leaders in Gaza saying that the attack proves that Likud members must vote against the disengagement plan in order not to give a prize to terrorists.
Meanwhile Sunday, the Likud referendum on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan opened at 8 AM with polls to close at 10 PM. Final results will be announced at 2AM Monday.
443 polls have been set up for the 193, 000 card-carrying Likud members who are eligible to vote. Roughly 1, 300 security guards and police will secure the proceedings throughout the country. 176 lawyers have been tasked with overseeing the vote's legality.
An explosive device was detonated near the site of the shooting while the IDF troops were chasing the terrorists, but it caused no injuries.
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad and Popular Resistance Committees, an umbrella group, claimed responsibility for the "heroic" attack in a call to The Associated Press.
The resistance committees said the attack was in response to Israel's recent assassinations of the founder of the Hamas militant group, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi.
"The attack is part of the Palestinian reprisals for the daily crimes committed by the Israeli army against the Palestinian people, especially the killings of Yassin and Rantisi," the group said.
The spotlight is now on PA Chairman Yasser Arafat as many Israeli sources consider him next in line for assassination after master terrorists Yassin and Rantisi were killed by Israeli security. Arafat, who signed the Oslo Peace Accords and agreed to the US brokered Road Map peace plan, has broken these commitments by not confronting terror organizations under his control. Recently Arafat ordered 20 wanted terrorists to leave his home in Rahmallah fearing an immediate Israeli attack against him.
Settlement leader Yehoshua Mor-Yosef said the dead were all Gush Katif residents. A resident of Gush Katif settlement Kfar Darom said the family was on its way to campaign against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan. The attack took place the same day as the party referendum on the pullout from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz canceled scheduled appearances Sunday and planned to convene with top security officials to plan a response to the attack, military sources said.
Opponents and proponents of the disengagement plan interpreted the attack according to their respective political convictions, with Likud MK Yuval Steinitz saying the attack did not make the plan any less necessary and Likud MK Ehud Yatom saying the attack must enhance the fierce opposition to disengagement.
The attack was the first to kill civilians in Gaza in more than a year.
Israeli MK Ehud Yatom, who opposes PM Sharon's disengagement plan, stated: "The purpose of the attack is to create a situation where the surrender to terrorism and escape come sooner. Therefore, Likud voters' response to terrorism must be opposition to the surrender plan".
Israeli Minister Yisrael Katz said that the attack should not be linked to the disengagement poll, but added: "The attack reinforces the Chief of Staff's claim that disengagement gives terrorism a backwind".
MK Uri Ariel (National Union) demanded forceful action against the terrorists. "I demand that the Defense Minister order the demolition of houses on both sides of the Kissufim road and that the High Court of Justices refrains from again delaying action that is essential to the security of Israeli citizens", he said.
Israeli Minister Gideon Ezra, who does support the PM's plan, said: "Our hearts are with the Katif Block residents. The poll today is intended to address exactly those painful issues. The government is obligated to protect its citizens, to fight terrorism, and to remain only in places optimal for us".
Ezra added: "The Gaza region is protected by a fence, and whoever gets near it will by killed. We are obligated to go along with the Prime Minister, the Chief of Staff, and the chiefs of the GSS and of IDF Intelligence, who know better than all of us".
Palestinian terrorists repeatedly use their own children as suicide bombers and as human shields when attacking Israelis and have intentionally targeted Israeli children in recent months. Matan, 5, and Noam Ohion, 4, and their mother were shot and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist at Kibbutz Metzer in central Israel last November. The terrorists walked into the child's bedroom and shot the children as they were sitting in their beds.
Security sources said the body of the boys' mother, Revital, 34, was riddled with bullets, apparently because she had tried to shield her children as the gunman burst into the children's room.
The terrorist burst in as the mother was reading the children a bedtime story.The Islamic madman then killed two more Israelis at the kibbutz before escaping in the dark. Dozens of Israeli children have been murdered and hundreds injured on public buses and in restaurants which were targets for Palestinian terrorism. In April of 2002, both Israeli senior citizens and their small grandchildren were slaughtered when a Palestinian terrorist blew up the Park Hotel in Netanya, killing 29 Jews in what's referred to as the Passover Massacre.
Yasser Arafat, who was born in Egypt, claims that "Palestine" is occupied and that "armed resistance" is the only solution to ending the "occupation." The West Bank was Jordan and Gaza was Egypt prior to the 1967 Israel Arab war. When Palestinians claim that Palestine is occupied, they are not referring to Nablus, Jenin or Rahmallah, they are directly referring to all of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean - the State of Israel.
Many Israeli and world leaders believe that we will not see regional stability until Arafat has been assassinated and replaced with a Palestinian leader who will confront terror and create jobs for Palestinians.
The U.S. State Department has renewed a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of those involved in the terror attack of a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Gaza last October.
The October 15 roadside bombing killed three security personnel working for the U.S. military contractor DynCorp as they guarded American diplomats traveling into Gaza to interview Palestinians who were candidates for Fulbright Scholarship grants.