Teenage girls stood and sobbed at the funerals of two of their murdered friends this afternoon - at that of Hadas Turjeman, 14, in Netanya, and Linoi Sarousi, also 14, in the Yarkon Cemetery. The two were murdered by a Palestinian terrorist last night as they stood talking outside the house of one of them. The murderer climbed under a fence in the northern Shomron community of Hermesh, shot the two girls, and then entered another home and fatally shot Orna Eshel, 53. Her husband was also shot, and was taken to Hillel Yaffe Hospital in Hadera in "moderate" condition, where he learned of his wife's death.
A woman resident of the town tried to shoot the terrorist, but did not succeed. Soldiers who arrived on the scene then shot and killed him; one of them was lightly wounded. The terrorist used a Kalachnikov assault rifle, and was also wearing an explosives belt that he apparently hoped to detonate and cause more deaths.
Orna Eshel will be laid to rest tomorrow. The Eshel family had left Hermesh because of the difficulties of living in the Shomron, but friends convinced them to return a few months ago. The Sarousi family, too, had wanted to leave, but Linoi told her parents that she, in any event, would not go. Both Linoi and Hadas are survived by their parents and two siblings.
The Yesha (Judea, Samaria, and Gaza) Council released a statement this morning accusing Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer of failing to live up to his responsibility of protecting Yesha communities. The Council demanded that he take immediate steps to improve the security situation in the towns. Last night's attack was at least the 12th fatal terrorist infiltration into a Yesha town in the past two years.
A woman in Hermesh spoke weepingly of 14-year-old Hadas: "She's my daughter's best friend since age 2, and there are so few girls here... A part of my daughter was killed last night... These two girls [who were killed] are a big part of Hermesh: wherever you walk, you would see them. A terrible loss, just terrible..."
O.C. Maj.-Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky visited Hermesh today and talked with the residents. Military tractors will uproot olive trees and other growth around the town's fence, which enabled the terrorist to avoid detection as he neared the community. "The terrorist apparently didn't loiter around seeking a way in. He went straight for a small gap under a fence. How did he know it was there?" asked Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA. The question supports claims by Yesha Council leader Bentzy Lieberman that Arab olive-pickers take advantage of the occasion to spy on the communities and report back to terrorist elements.
A woman resident of the town tried to shoot the terrorist, but did not succeed. Soldiers who arrived on the scene then shot and killed him; one of them was lightly wounded. The terrorist used a Kalachnikov assault rifle, and was also wearing an explosives belt that he apparently hoped to detonate and cause more deaths.
Orna Eshel will be laid to rest tomorrow. The Eshel family had left Hermesh because of the difficulties of living in the Shomron, but friends convinced them to return a few months ago. The Sarousi family, too, had wanted to leave, but Linoi told her parents that she, in any event, would not go. Both Linoi and Hadas are survived by their parents and two siblings.
The Yesha (Judea, Samaria, and Gaza) Council released a statement this morning accusing Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer of failing to live up to his responsibility of protecting Yesha communities. The Council demanded that he take immediate steps to improve the security situation in the towns. Last night's attack was at least the 12th fatal terrorist infiltration into a Yesha town in the past two years.
A woman in Hermesh spoke weepingly of 14-year-old Hadas: "She's my daughter's best friend since age 2, and there are so few girls here... A part of my daughter was killed last night... These two girls [who were killed] are a big part of Hermesh: wherever you walk, you would see them. A terrible loss, just terrible..."
O.C. Maj.-Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky visited Hermesh today and talked with the residents. Military tractors will uproot olive trees and other growth around the town's fence, which enabled the terrorist to avoid detection as he neared the community. "The terrorist apparently didn't loiter around seeking a way in. He went straight for a small gap under a fence. How did he know it was there?" asked Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA. The question supports claims by Yesha Council leader Bentzy Lieberman that Arab olive-pickers take advantage of the occasion to spy on the communities and report back to terrorist elements.