IDF soldiers stopped a group of Arabs from carrying out an attack on the Samarian Jewish town of Barkan in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Soldiers from the Ephraim Brigade spotted a group of operatives approaching the fence around the perimeter of the community after having set an ambush nearby. There have been reports of repeated attempts to infiltrate the community in recent weeks.

Once the soldiers had positively identified the individuals approaching the fence as suspicious, and believing that at least one was armed, troops called on the Palestinians to halt – and when the order was ignored, they opened fire. One of the would-be infiltrators was killed, but his companions managed to escape.

IDF soldiers are continuing to search the area for the suspects.

In the wake of the incident, Civil Administration head Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai turned to his Palestinian Authority counterparts in the Kalkilya region to carry out a joint investigation of the incident. Mordechai also asked PA commanders to restrain the local Arab population and their own forces in the area in response to the incident, according to the IDF communique. Within hours, PA commanders had sent a representative to the site of the attempted infiltration.

According to the IDF, initial evidence indicates that the motive for the attack may have been criminal, rather than nationalistic. This is standard procedure unless the terrorists are known or their actions make terrorism an obvious motive.

Gershon Mesika, Shomron Regional Council chairman, congratulated the IDF, saying the infiltration could easily have been a terrorist attack. Another resident said that the town of Barkan is not afforded sufficient protection, explaining that “for some reason, it is categorized as a low-risk area – even though there have been attacks here in the past, and robberies in recent weeks.” 

Barkan, located in southern Samaria, is a short ride from Petach Tikva, approximately 10 kilometers east of Elkana, next to Highway 5, the “Trans-Samaria Highway” and slightly west of the Samarian city of Ariel. Founded in 1981, the town includes a large industrial park featuring at least 120 businesses and factories that employ more than 5,000 workers, including many PA Arabs, to whom the industrial park gave much needed employment, but who will be unemployed if Abbas' plan for banning PA Arab work for Israelis goes into effect.