Six Arab Israelis and Palestinian Authority Arabs have been arrested in connection with a stabbing just after last month's Operation Pillar of Defense. The six included Arab residents of Israel's Negev desert region, inhabited primarily by Bedouin and Jewish Israelis, and PA Arabs from Hevron.
The two populations often intermarry -- and as a result, many times economic, family and other ties are formed. Some of the Bedouin population in the northern Negev is also descended from common ancestors of PA Arabs who settled in the Hevron area.
The victim, a 27-year-old man, was attacked late on the night of November 28 and stabbed in his upper body. At the time, it was reported that the circumstances surrounding the attack were “unclear.”
According to the Israel Security Agency (Shabak/Shin Bet), all six are expected to be indicted within the next several days.
In response to the counter terror offensive launched to silence the rocket and mortar fire aimed at southern Israel from Gaza, Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria all saw a rise in terrorist activity, according to November's monthly statistics released by the Israel Security Agency.
Operation Pillar of Defense, which took place November 14-21, saw more than 1,700 missiles and nearly 100 mortar shells fired at the State of Israel, with some reaching as far north as Rishon LeZion, Tel Aviv and southern Jerusalem, and as far east as Jewish and Arab villages in Gush Etzion.
According to the report, 166 attacks in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem were perpetrated in November. These included two stabbings in the capital, two bombs, three shootings, 1 incident with a grenade and 156 attacks with firebombs (Molotov cocktails) – 42 of which were in Jerusalem. Within pre-1967 Israel, there were five attacks, including two stabbings, one bombing and two firebomb attacks.
Oddly, the report claims there were only 2 rock attacks in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem in November.