For the third time this week, hundreds of Arabs blocked the main road going through a village leading to Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, and stoned one Israeli car after another as they were passing through.
A number of vehicles were stoned early Thursday afternoon in Huwara, an Arab village in Samaria, about five miles south of Shechem. They managed to escape, having sustained heavy damages. One of motorist, who found himself in mortal danger when his vehicle had been attacked with cinder blocks and his front windshield was smashed, opened fire at the rioters. Apparently one of them was killed and another was moderately injured.
The wounded man was wearing a vest that said “Press” on it. Some Arab sources say he was participating in the riots.
Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, issued a statement saying: “We must act with zero tolerance towards terrorists who want to stop our daily routines and to literally harm our residents. We support our IDF soldiers in their activities to protect the citizens of the State of Israel. We mustn’t deal with terrorists with kid gloves. It is inconceivable that a mother who takes her son to the doctor in the morning would be attacked in broad daylight.”
Regarding the motorist who was forced to defend his life and shot a terrorist, Dagan said, “I fully support the resident who protected his life and the lives of those around him from the assailants.”
This is the third time this week that a similar incident has taken place in Huwara, but the IDF is yet to set up proper defenses in the village and nor confront the Arab rioters. According to Hakol Hayehudi, in one of these attempted lynches this week, the army took as long as 20 minutes to get to scene.
On Wednesday, two motorists who were attacked near Ofra by dozens of Arab rioters from the village of Silwad were detained for eight hours by Israeli police, for shooting and wounding one of the rioters. They were interrogated with a warning and eventually released.
There is an initial reports that says that today’s driver has been arrested.
There are reports as of 2 PM that Arabs are continuing to stone Jewish drivers.