Three armed Arab terrorists from Jenin drove up to two ninth graders, 14-year-old Hadas Mann of Beit El and 15-year-old Emunah Shachar of Jerusalem, and jumped out of the car, pointing a gun at them. They grabbed the girls and tried to force them into the car.
“We sat in the trampiada (hitchhiking post) and saw the car approaching,” related Shachar, who said the girls stood up. “but when we realized they were Arabs we sat down again. A man came out of the car with a gun and aimed it at us. We tried to run away and I ended up on the ground while one of them started beating me up,” she said.
"I was sure I was going to die any moment," she added. “I yelled Shema Yisrael,” the prayer which Jews say as an expression of faith in the Almighty when they are near death.
During the attack, Mann ran for cover but fell on the ground. “I ran to the bushes and hid,” Mann told reporters after the ordeal. “I played dead so they wouldn’t see me. I came out of the bushes and stopped a car. I screamed, ‘They kidnapped my friend!’ and reported to incident by phone,” she told Ynet news.
Mann contradicted an earlier IDF report that the second girl was not kidnapped. She said she jumped into the bushes after one of the three terrorists aimed a pistol at them and that Shachar was forced into their car, as first reported. Hadas alerted the driver of a passing car and soldiers were informed.
A Border Guard jeep on patrol picked Mann up and sped after the getaway car, a white Chevrolet, radioing IDF forces to set up checkpoints to stop the would-be kidnappers. They were caught a short time later near the Yesha community of Eli, and the troops found the girl in the terrorists' vehicle. The kidnappers were taken for interrogation to the Shomron police.
Shachar, who suffered back and face injuries, was taken to Shaare Tzedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, where she was treated and released.
Avigdor Shatz, chief security officer for the Binyamin Regional Council, told Arutz-7 that though it has been the norm to hitchhike along Yesha roads, "our long-standing instructions have been not to do so. We will make it even clearer now, and we expect parents and schools to show responsibility."
Shatz did not respond to a question as to whether the regional council would provide more frequent local bus service. The only public bus service in Yesha (Judea and Samaria) at present is provided by the Egged cooperative. The bus routes originate from the larger cities outside Yesha and do not always enter the communities along the way. The service is not convenient for students traveling to and from their homes and schools.
A defense establishment source said the attempted abduction represents a serious escalation that "forces us to change the rules of the game."
The security officer in the Binyamin Regional Council in Samaria has warned residents in Judea and Samaria not to hitchhike from the main roads. "There are a number of warnings and the matter of hitchhiking is very problematic," he said. The officer recommended that people stand inside the Jewish communities in order to catch a ride.
“We sat in the trampiada (hitchhiking post) and saw the car approaching,” related Shachar, who said the girls stood up. “but when we realized they were Arabs we sat down again. A man came out of the car with a gun and aimed it at us. We tried to run away and I ended up on the ground while one of them started beating me up,” she said.
"I was sure I was going to die any moment," she added. “I yelled Shema Yisrael,” the prayer which Jews say as an expression of faith in the Almighty when they are near death.
During the attack, Mann ran for cover but fell on the ground. “I ran to the bushes and hid,” Mann told reporters after the ordeal. “I played dead so they wouldn’t see me. I came out of the bushes and stopped a car. I screamed, ‘They kidnapped my friend!’ and reported to incident by phone,” she told Ynet news.
Mann contradicted an earlier IDF report that the second girl was not kidnapped. She said she jumped into the bushes after one of the three terrorists aimed a pistol at them and that Shachar was forced into their car, as first reported. Hadas alerted the driver of a passing car and soldiers were informed.
A Border Guard jeep on patrol picked Mann up and sped after the getaway car, a white Chevrolet, radioing IDF forces to set up checkpoints to stop the would-be kidnappers. They were caught a short time later near the Yesha community of Eli, and the troops found the girl in the terrorists' vehicle. The kidnappers were taken for interrogation to the Shomron police.
Shachar, who suffered back and face injuries, was taken to Shaare Tzedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, where she was treated and released.
Avigdor Shatz, chief security officer for the Binyamin Regional Council, told Arutz-7 that though it has been the norm to hitchhike along Yesha roads, "our long-standing instructions have been not to do so. We will make it even clearer now, and we expect parents and schools to show responsibility."
Shatz did not respond to a question as to whether the regional council would provide more frequent local bus service. The only public bus service in Yesha (Judea and Samaria) at present is provided by the Egged cooperative. The bus routes originate from the larger cities outside Yesha and do not always enter the communities along the way. The service is not convenient for students traveling to and from their homes and schools.
A defense establishment source said the attempted abduction represents a serious escalation that "forces us to change the rules of the game."
The security officer in the Binyamin Regional Council in Samaria has warned residents in Judea and Samaria not to hitchhike from the main roads. "There are a number of warnings and the matter of hitchhiking is very problematic," he said. The officer recommended that people stand inside the Jewish communities in order to catch a ride.