Hadas Abutbul, the woman who was murdered by Arab terrorists on Friday afternoon in the northern Shomron, was buried this afternoon in Afula, where she grew up. The funeral left from her home in Mevo Dotan, taking the northern Shomron roads and Nachal Iron roads around Shaked, Mei Ami, and Um el-Fahm to reach Afula. Hadas, 39, is survived by her husband and four children. Mevo Dotan residents met with IDF Yesha commander Brig.-Gen. Yitzchak Gershon and other leading officers, and demanded that the paving of the Yaabed bypass road be completed immediately. The murderers are assumed to have escaped from Yaabed into Area A. The residents also asked for more military escorts for civilian traffic.
Uri Ben-Yosef, head of the Mevo Dotan secretariat, told Arutz-7 today that Hadas is the town\'s second terrorism victim; Tzvika Shelef, 63, was murdered in a similar type of drive-by shooting on May 31 of this year. \"Traveling in this area is simply a game of roulette,\" he said. \"Last week, there was a shooting on a public bus. The roads here are simply unsafe. The bypass road is being held up because of budgetary problems, and even though this road is considered high-priority, the money has not yet been found.\"
Shomron Regional Council head Bentzy Lieberman told Arutz-7,
\"Hadas was the 14th Shomron resident to have been murdered in this ongoing war. She ran a day-care center for the regional council, and was a very devoted mother to her four children. It is a terrible, intolerable situation, and our anger and frustration stem from the fact that it really could be different, both militarily and in terms of the government\'s attitude to the people here. I am referring to the bypass roads that are so sorely needed and that have not been paved in the past three years, as well as the lack of response regarding bulletproof vehicles, and the lack of extra financial benefits that are usually granted to those living on confrontation lines - and here we are really the eye of the storm....
\"I agree that the army is doing all it can, and even more, given the restrictions under which it must act. My complaints are directed against the government. If Arafat is really our Bin-Laden, as Prime Minister Sharon said, then this can\'t be a surgical, clean, pharmacy-type war. It must be fought with the knowledge that years of mistakes have been made, that we have created a situation that we must uproot from the very foundations. We must dismantle the Palestinian Authority and its infrastructures of incitement, the same way the U.S. deals with Bin Laden. This must be all-out war against the PA. Even if we arrest or kill 200 or 400 terrorists, more of them continue to be created by the PA and its organs of incitement. We have to get to the swamp that breeds the terrorism, not just to the roaches in the corner...
\"Until then, we are making it quite clear: We are here to stay... The tears that we shed today at yet another funeral are tears that strengthen us, tears that tie us even more closely to this land... I call upon the government ministers who understand the situation to make it clear to Sharon that his partnership with Peres is totally destructive. I was among those who were in favor of a national unity government - but it is no longer an asset. It paralyzes us, doesn\'t let us progress, and it must be dismantled right now... Fifty percent of time of government meetings must be devoted to this issue, of how to deal with the crucial security and military matters facing us. Unfortunately, I don\'t think this is the case...\"
Uri Ben-Yosef, head of the Mevo Dotan secretariat, told Arutz-7 today that Hadas is the town\'s second terrorism victim; Tzvika Shelef, 63, was murdered in a similar type of drive-by shooting on May 31 of this year. \"Traveling in this area is simply a game of roulette,\" he said. \"Last week, there was a shooting on a public bus. The roads here are simply unsafe. The bypass road is being held up because of budgetary problems, and even though this road is considered high-priority, the money has not yet been found.\"
Shomron Regional Council head Bentzy Lieberman told Arutz-7,
\"Hadas was the 14th Shomron resident to have been murdered in this ongoing war. She ran a day-care center for the regional council, and was a very devoted mother to her four children. It is a terrible, intolerable situation, and our anger and frustration stem from the fact that it really could be different, both militarily and in terms of the government\'s attitude to the people here. I am referring to the bypass roads that are so sorely needed and that have not been paved in the past three years, as well as the lack of response regarding bulletproof vehicles, and the lack of extra financial benefits that are usually granted to those living on confrontation lines - and here we are really the eye of the storm....
\"I agree that the army is doing all it can, and even more, given the restrictions under which it must act. My complaints are directed against the government. If Arafat is really our Bin-Laden, as Prime Minister Sharon said, then this can\'t be a surgical, clean, pharmacy-type war. It must be fought with the knowledge that years of mistakes have been made, that we have created a situation that we must uproot from the very foundations. We must dismantle the Palestinian Authority and its infrastructures of incitement, the same way the U.S. deals with Bin Laden. This must be all-out war against the PA. Even if we arrest or kill 200 or 400 terrorists, more of them continue to be created by the PA and its organs of incitement. We have to get to the swamp that breeds the terrorism, not just to the roaches in the corner...
\"Until then, we are making it quite clear: We are here to stay... The tears that we shed today at yet another funeral are tears that strengthen us, tears that tie us even more closely to this land... I call upon the government ministers who understand the situation to make it clear to Sharon that his partnership with Peres is totally destructive. I was among those who were in favor of a national unity government - but it is no longer an asset. It paralyzes us, doesn\'t let us progress, and it must be dismantled right now... Fifty percent of time of government meetings must be devoted to this issue, of how to deal with the crucial security and military matters facing us. Unfortunately, I don\'t think this is the case...\"