'Govt to Blame for Rock Attacks'

Shomron Regional Council head Gershon Mesika blamed the government Tuesday for mounting rock attacks by Palestinian Authority Arabs against Jews traveling on the roads of Judea and Samaria.

Two Israelis were injured in one such attack earlier on Tuesday after Arabs hurled rocks at their car near the PA-controlled Samaria city of Shechem, known in the area as “terrorist central.”  Both victims suffered light injuries and were taken to a nearby hospital for medical treatment.  IDF soldiers combed the area for the attackers.

Mesika accused the government of encouraging the assaults through its talk of uprooting Jewish communities in the area and by lashing out at Jewish residents who try to defend themselves after Arab attacks.

The Samaria resident was referring to the government’s sharp response to Saturday’s outpouring of angry Yitzhar residents, who flooded into a nearby Arab village after a terrorist set a house ablaze and stabbed a 9-year-old boy in the community on Sabbath morning. The Yitzhar residents overturned cars, damaged houses and rioted through the village where the terrorist was believed to reside and being sheltered. Local Arabs claimed that four villagers were shot, but produced no evidence to this effect.

“The security on our roads and in our towns remains the full responsibility of the IDF, no less than anywhere else in Israel,” said Mesika. “We will not be treated as second-class citizens, and we expect to drive freely on open roads without threat of being stoned."

“I call on [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert and [Defense Minister Ehud] Barak, who were quick to call for law enforcement in Yitzhar, to be sure to enforce the same law in the neighboring Arab villages,” Mesika said.

Contacted by IsraelNationalNews, the IDF Spokesman's office had no comment on the rock attacks, nor on Mesika’s remarks.

Monday Attack at Checkpoint-less Junction

On Monday, an IDF soldier was stabbed by a PA terrorist who also grabbed his gun before escaping from the scene at the Almog Junction, just north of the Dead Sea near Jericho.  The soldier, who sustained moderate wounds, was taken to Hadassah-EinKeremHospital in Jerusalem. The perpetrator was tracked down and caught by IDF soldiers, as was his accomplice.

The Almagor Terror Victims Association issued a statement following the attack reminding the media that it had called on the government a month earlier to return the security checkpoints to the roads in the area. Almagor had warned at the time that the stretch in Samaria between Ramallah and Jericho had essentially become unmonitored PA territory.