George Khouri, 21, a Christian Israeli-Arab whose family lives in Nazareth and northern Jerusalem, was murdered "by mistake" on Friday night by Palestinian terrorists. He was jogging in the Jerusalem's French Hill neighborhood when a car pulled up alongside him. A passenger inside fired four shots, two of which hit Khouri in the head; he died on the way to the hospital. Khouri's funeral was held today in Jerusalem's Mount Zion Orthodox Cemetery.
The Al-Aqsa Brigades of Arafat's Fatah organization quickly announced that they had committed the murder - but when they learned that the victim was an Arab, the terrorists issued a corrected announcement: "The fighters thought that the jogger was a settler, as this was an area full of settlers. This was a mistake, and a letter of apology has been sent to the family. We will consider George Khouri a 'shahid' [holy martyr]..."
The Yediot Acharonot newspaper reported that Arafat phoned the Khouri family to express his condolences, and promised to make every effort to catch the murderers. This was a curious reaction, however, in light of his attitude towards the murderer of Khouri's own grandfather in similar circumstances. Khouri the elder was one of four Arabs - amidst a total of 14 victims - killed in the famous "refrigerator blast" terrorist attack of July 4, 1975 in downtown Jerusalem. The perpetrator of that attack, Ahmed Jabara, was freed from prison last summer - and Arafat greeted him with kisses.
It was not reported whether Atty. Elias Khouri - son of the 1975 victim and father of Friday night's victim - asked Arafat about the double standard he plans to apply to the murderers of the two.
It was reported, however, that Atty. Elias Khouri is a prominent activist on behalf of the PA. Veteran Beit El resident Yoel Tzur said today that he recalls Khouri representing a group of Arabs "with hatred and zeal" against the new residents of the fledgling Beit El community in 1978:
"At one point, after then-Supreme Court Chief Justice Moshe Landau ordered a temporary freeze on all construction activities in the area, the holiday of Sukkot arrived, and, as is customary among Jews, we put up the little huts - sukkot - for the holiday. I remember that Khouri complained about this to the Court, and Justice Landau was visibly infuriated: 'For 2,000 years Jews have put up sukkot all over the world, even in the face of all sorts of building codes and regulations. And now when the Jews have come home to their Land, you dare to try to stop them from putting up sukkot in their Land?!'"
The Al-Aqsa Brigades of Arafat's Fatah organization quickly announced that they had committed the murder - but when they learned that the victim was an Arab, the terrorists issued a corrected announcement: "The fighters thought that the jogger was a settler, as this was an area full of settlers. This was a mistake, and a letter of apology has been sent to the family. We will consider George Khouri a 'shahid' [holy martyr]..."
The Yediot Acharonot newspaper reported that Arafat phoned the Khouri family to express his condolences, and promised to make every effort to catch the murderers. This was a curious reaction, however, in light of his attitude towards the murderer of Khouri's own grandfather in similar circumstances. Khouri the elder was one of four Arabs - amidst a total of 14 victims - killed in the famous "refrigerator blast" terrorist attack of July 4, 1975 in downtown Jerusalem. The perpetrator of that attack, Ahmed Jabara, was freed from prison last summer - and Arafat greeted him with kisses.
It was not reported whether Atty. Elias Khouri - son of the 1975 victim and father of Friday night's victim - asked Arafat about the double standard he plans to apply to the murderers of the two.
It was reported, however, that Atty. Elias Khouri is a prominent activist on behalf of the PA. Veteran Beit El resident Yoel Tzur said today that he recalls Khouri representing a group of Arabs "with hatred and zeal" against the new residents of the fledgling Beit El community in 1978:
"At one point, after then-Supreme Court Chief Justice Moshe Landau ordered a temporary freeze on all construction activities in the area, the holiday of Sukkot arrived, and, as is customary among Jews, we put up the little huts - sukkot - for the holiday. I remember that Khouri complained about this to the Court, and Justice Landau was visibly infuriated: 'For 2,000 years Jews have put up sukkot all over the world, even in the face of all sorts of building codes and regulations. And now when the Jews have come home to their Land, you dare to try to stop them from putting up sukkot in their Land?!'"