Kiryat Arba deputy mayor Yisrael Bramson spoke out Sunday in an Arutz Sheva interview regarding the ramming attack this past Friday in Gush Etzion in which a father of six from Kiryat Arba was seriously injured.
"Since the attack on Friday we have been helping the family and giving them all the support that we can as a community. I personally know Ebenezer [the victim], who is a wonderful man who helps everyone. This is a serious blow for Kiryat Arba," Bramson said.
"The handwriting was on the wall. The Gush Etzion junction is known as one of the most vulnerable place for terror attacks, and the Israeli government has yet to learn its lesson. We ought to prevent Arabs from driving on our roads. This is a constant injustice which must be stopped.
"I expect and request of Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman who spoke so high and mighty about the importance of security - to act. Obviously the prime minister bears some responsibility for this as well. There is a large group of people travelling on the roads and hitchhiking and you are supposed to ensure that every citizen can return home safely. It should be prohibited for Palestinians to travel in more vulnerable areas," Bramson says.
Bramson rejects the claims of certain security officials that one cannot stop so-called 'lone-wolf' attackers. "It's possible to stop individual attackers. If they would prevent the entry of [Arab] vehicles to vulnerable areas, we would stop a good many attacks. I'm not talking about bypass roads. I'm saying that on the central roads for Israeli citizens, Arab residents should not be allowed to travel just as I can't travel on Hevron's main roads."
The deputy mayor also expressed frustration with the fact that the terrorist has been hospitalized in the same ward as his victim.
"We are in the intensive care unit where the evil terrorist is in the same ward as the victim Ebenezer. Tens of family members of the terrorist are here. Where is the state? It is disrespectful to the state that attacker and victim are in the same place. Send the attacker to a Hevron hospital where he can get treatment from their doctors. We invest millions in treating terrorists and then we even release them in deals. It is a disgrace to the Jewish nation that the terrorist is lying near the victim."
The Hadassah hospital responded by stating that "the terrorist is being guarded and is not allowed to receive visits from friends or family except for a lawyer."
The Gush Etzion junction is protected by cement blocks at bus stops and by combat soldiers who patrol and man a pillbox and checkpoint. However, the large number of Arab vehicles that travel on route 60 to and from the Hevron area makes it impossible to prevent all attacks, especially since those vehicles also cause traffic jams, turning Israeli drivers into sitting ducks. Gush Eztion esidents are demanding an overpass or bypass road for Palestinian Arab traffic.