PA Violence Escalates

Arab violence escalated sharply on Monday, with a mortar attack from Gaza, at least four stoning attacks on Israelis and gunshots at policemen, two of whom were lightly wounded. Israeli mainstream media ignored virtually all of the attacks.

The increase terror followed last week’s ambush that killed four Israeli citizens south of Israel and a “drive-by” shooting that wounded two civilians in Samaria.

The mortar shell was fired from Gaza Monday morning and landed in an open area near a kibbutz in the Eshkol region. In a separate incident, Arabs in the central Israeli community of Qalansawe lightly wounded two Border Guard policemen.

A spate of rock-throwing attacks, aimed at causing fatal accidents, was reported in the southern Hevron Hills, several miles north of Arad and in an areas where there generally is little violence.

Palestinian Authority Arabs also attacked Israeli motorists on Highway 60, north of Hevron and north of Jerusalem. The highway is the same road where terrorists murdered four Israelis, including a woman in her ninth month of pregnancy, last week. The rock attacks caused no injuries and light damage to vehicles.

The Hamas website claimed “an heroic operation against settlers” in Samaria, where terrorists allegedly stabbed and lightly wounded a man in the Emmanuel industrial area. However, the report has not been confirmed by any Israeli sources.

Hamas said the supposed attack was “a normal response to settlers’ attacks against Palestinian people in Gaza, West Bank and Jerusalem.”