A resident of the Samaria town of Ariel was a victim of Arab terrorists as he was driving on the Trans-Samaria (Shomron) Highway on Sunday evening.
Yaakov Hamawi was driving along the highway when he was startled by the sound of a strong explosion. At first he thought that he had a flat tire or that he had hit an object that was on the road, but after arriving home he realized that a glass bottle had been thrown at him, causing damage to the vehicle.
“I was coming home from work at around 10:00 p.m. when suddenly a Palestinian Authority Arab taxi which came from the direction of Pedu’el [a Shomron Jewish community, ed.] got on the road and drove next to me,” Hamawi told Arutz Sheva.
“A little before the Barkan junction the taxi driver slowed down and I began to pass him. Suddenly I heard a thump coming from the front of the car and I thought I had something stuck in my wheel,” Hamawi added, saying he had noticed that the passengers in the taxi were looking at him with big smiles on their faces. “The people inside the taxi were looking at me and did not understand why. I kept driving. When I got home I checked the car and saw a bottle glued to the front of the vehicle. That’s what had caused the damage.”
Hamawi contacted the police but they only agreed to pay for the damage, not to find those who threw the bottle or increase security along the road.
“When I spoke with the police on the phone they asked me to come to the station to file a complaint,” he said. “When I asked them if they intend to station more security forces on the road, they refused to answer. Other than complaining to the police, I do not know what I can do besides raising my level of alertness and asking my wife and children, who travel to work every day, to be alert as well.”
Hamawi said that the incident reminded him of the terror attack in which Asher Palmer and his infant son, Yonatan, were murdered. The two were killed when Arab terrorists threw a rock that hit the front windshield of their vehicle and caused Asher to lose control of the car.
“In the past when I would go to work in Jerusalem, I came across rock throwing by Arabs more than once,” he said. “The bottle that was thrown at me yesterday reminds me of what happened to Asher Palmer and his son. I realized those who threw the bottle at my car had similar intentions.”
Hamawi clarified, however, that he is not at all scared and plans to continue traveling on the Trans-Shomron Highway.
“I travel all over Judea and Samaria (Yehuda and Shomron) and will continue to do so,” he stressed. “They did not scare me 20 years ago and they do not scare me now.”