After two people were injured on Wednesday in a shooting attack on an access road between Jewish communities in Samaria, it was decided on Thursday morning to close the road to Palestinian motorists.
Shaul Nir and his wife, Rachel, were leaving Avnei Hefetz when Palestinians Arab terrorists fired on their car, seriously injuring Shaul and moderately injuring Rachel.
While happy at the move to close the road, Yossi Dagan, the head of the Samaria Regional Council, expressed anger that it had taken the security establishment so long to do despite a multitude of requests.
"It is sad and outrageous that blood needs to be spilled for political leaders to value the importance of residents' lives over the need to please politicians from the European Union," he blasted.
"It is inconceivable that six months, we begged [them] not to open the access road to Avnei Hefetz to Palestinian traffics and 'all we needed' for our logical request to be answered was a little blood on the altar of European politicians."
"It pains me that this is how decision are made," Dagan bemoaned. "The same thing happened in the case of the Henkin family. On the same road [they were killed] we warned it not be opened, and only after the children lost their parents, was the road blocked to [Palestinian] traffic - until the blood dried. It's open again now to traffic as if nothing happened."
Dagan also demanded that security and political personnel block other problematic roads to Palestinian drivers.
"A serious and urgent discussion must be conducted about making decisions that are not influenced by political pressure from Europe, but by the security considerations of citizens of this country."