Arabs attack cars south of Jerusalem
Arabs attack cars south of JerusalemIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Dozens of Arab attackers tried to cause fatal road accidents to Jews south of Jerusalem Monday by hurling rocks at their vehicles, including an ambulance belonging to Magen David Adom. No was injured, but the ambulance and several cars sustained damage.

 

Arabs launching the first Intifada in the late 1980s and early 1990s won sympathy from foreign media by using rocks and boulders to stone cars, putting the IDF in the position of being charged with using “disproportional force” if soldiers used rifle fire to quell the riots.

 

The army eventually developed a four-wheeled machine that shot rocks back at the Arabs, who quickly escalated the war with stabbings, sniper fire, suicide bombs and kidnappings that often resulted in death.

 

Monday’s massive attack, which was ignored by almost all of the Hebrew and English media except for Israel National News, took place on Highway 60, between Hevron-Kiryat Arba and the Gush Etzion junction. It is the only direct highway linking Jerusalem and Be’er Sheva via the southern Hevron Hills.

 

Arabs threw the rocks during a funeral for a 17-year-old youth who died Sunday night from wounds suffered in a clash with soldiers last March, who acted after 17 firebombings, roadside explosions and rock-throwing attacks on Jewish vehicles.