The United Nations envoy for the Middle East condemned on Saturday night the abduction and killing of 20-year-old IDF soldier Tomer Hazan by a Palestinian Authority Arab terrorist.
In a statement, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, emphasized the need for calm on the ground during this “critical moment” in the political efforts.
Serry’s statement said the “shocking murder follows a series of violent incidents” in Judea and Samaria.
He added that calm “is all the more important at this critical moment in the political process”, referring to the peace talks between Israel and the PA.
Hazan was abducted Friday and murdered in Samaria by Nadal Amar, an Arab terrorist from the village of Bayt Amin, near Kalkilya. Amar, who worked at a restaurant in Bat Yam with Hazan, convinced Hazan to take a cab with him to Samaria, where he proceeded to murder him and dispose of his body.
Early morning Saturday, IDF forces, together with Yamam special police and Shin Bet, raided the home of Amar's family and arrested him, together with another brother. Nadal Amar confessed under interrogation that he persuaded the soldier to come to his village and murdered him.
Following his confession, Amar led security forces to the body. It is believed Amar may have planned to demand that Israel release his brother, a Fatah terrorist who has been imprisoned for a decade, in exchange for Hazan’s body.
The grassroots Samaria Residents' Council said Saturday that Hazan’s abduction and murder was made possible by the existence of a large breach in the separation fence between Israeli and PA territory, near Shaarei Tikva.
The murderer and his victim passed through the breach, members of the Council said, in order to reach the Arab villages next to the community. Thousands of PA residents pass through the same breach daily, on their way to work in Israel.
Earlier this month, the Israeli cabinet voted to grant 5,000 extra work permits to PA Arabs as a "goodwill gesture" to the Palestinian Authority.