A group of Arabs and Israeli collaborators attacked a home in a Jewish startup neighborhood in Samaria Wednesday morning, killed a dog and burned holy books, while the residents were away protecting a nearby olive orchard.
The neighborhood that was attacked is called Chursha and is located next to the community of Adei Ad which was established ten years ago. The residents number about a dozen.
Israel News Photo: Yona Tzoref
According to Evyatar Karo, one of Chursha's residents, the Arabs and Israeli anarchists carried out a successful ruse before their attack when they told police that they had come to harvest olives. The police then notified Chursha's residents that officers and soldiers were escorting the Arabs to pick olives. This apparently caused the neighborhood's residents to leave their homes without guards – except for their dogs – and go off to guard a nearby olive grove planted by Jews several years ago, which Arabs claim is on their land.
Israel News Photo: Yona Tzoref
The attack took place at around 8 a.m., under the cover of fog. Karo estimates that the attackers numbered at least 20 Arabs and a few Israeli anarchists. The perpetrators parked their car in the nearby village of Turmus-Ayah, north of Jerusalem, and reached Chursha by foot. They then proceeded to burn and destroy the living quarters and meager furnishings, and to kill Kacha, a mixed-breed female Caucasian Shepherd puppy. Kacha's carcass bears signs of violence, and she seems to have been beaten or bludgeoned to death.
Israel News Photo: Yona Tzoref
Another one of the neighborhood's three dogs was taken away by the attackers. The third was not harmed.
When the Jewish residents heard noises from their homes and hurried back, the attackers fled. Security officer David Yoel of the nearby Shilo community blocked the path of four of the suspects as they tried to escape on foot and held them at bay until police and soldiers arrived and arrested them.
Yona Tzoref
Three of the arrested suspects – two men and a woman – are in their early 20s. The fourth is an older man, apparently an Arab. Police have not commented on the arrests and have asked Chursha's residents to identify the attackers.
Partial enforcement
MK Uri Ariel of the National Union / National Religious Party said that the attack on the Chursha neighborhood of Adei Ad marked a new peak in the violence perpetrated by Israeli anarchists and Arabs. "These grave phenomena, along with the destruction of vineyards and olive trees in the Binyamin area, are the result of the fact that the Minister of Defense and OC Central Command are busy selectively enforcing the law against the Jewish residents of the region," he said. This kind of partial enforcement, he added, encourages violence by the Arabs and their Israeli collaborators.
Shilo resident Yona Tzoref said he arrived at the scene after being notified of the attack. He photographed the damage, but the attackers already had escaped.