Yitzchak, who oversees the Judea and Samaria region, warned Israelis not to enter areas A (under full PA control) or B (under partial PA control) not only because of security concerns, but also to avoid recurring scam operations that have relieved several Israeli vendors of their wares.
Arutz-7’s Haggai Huberman reports that the warning was issued after several Israeli merchants fell victim to a ring of PA Arab crooks from the Shechem region. The crooks phoned merchants advertising in Israeli newspapers, placing orders worth tens of thousands of shekels. They posed as large wholesalers from Shechem or exporters to Jordan. The Israeli merchants agreed to fill the orders, showing up with the merchandise at PA villages in Area B or checkpoints leading into Area A. The Arab thieves would then load the merchandise into their vehicles and escape to nearby PA-controlled villages without paying – knowing that the Israelis could not follow them.
Aside from the danger of losing their merchandise, several Israelis have been murdered after entering Arab villages in Area A, and even some in Area B. Although under the Oslo Accords Area B is officially under IDF security control and PA administrative control, it has proved equally hazardous for Jews as locations under full Arab control. The blame was sometimes places on the victims. “How many Israelis have to be murdered until they realize the dangers of entering villages in Area B?” asked IDF district commander Col. Ilan Paz, at the scene of the August 2001 murder of 60-year-old Amos Tajuri of Modi’in, who was shot in the head at point-blank range by a masked terrorist while visiting an Arab friend in a nearby Arab village.
Arutz-7’s Haggai Huberman reports that the warning was issued after several Israeli merchants fell victim to a ring of PA Arab crooks from the Shechem region. The crooks phoned merchants advertising in Israeli newspapers, placing orders worth tens of thousands of shekels. They posed as large wholesalers from Shechem or exporters to Jordan. The Israeli merchants agreed to fill the orders, showing up with the merchandise at PA villages in Area B or checkpoints leading into Area A. The Arab thieves would then load the merchandise into their vehicles and escape to nearby PA-controlled villages without paying – knowing that the Israelis could not follow them.
Aside from the danger of losing their merchandise, several Israelis have been murdered after entering Arab villages in Area A, and even some in Area B. Although under the Oslo Accords Area B is officially under IDF security control and PA administrative control, it has proved equally hazardous for Jews as locations under full Arab control. The blame was sometimes places on the victims. “How many Israelis have to be murdered until they realize the dangers of entering villages in Area B?” asked IDF district commander Col. Ilan Paz, at the scene of the August 2001 murder of 60-year-old Amos Tajuri of Modi’in, who was shot in the head at point-blank range by a masked terrorist while visiting an Arab friend in a nearby Arab village.