As they have done for the past 21 years, on Saturday night some 50 Jewish men, women and children held evening prayer and read the Megillah at the Yad Yair outpost in the Talmonim bloc.
Yad Yair was established in 1991, in memory of Dolev resident Yair Mendelson who was murdered there by Arab terrorists who shot into his car as he was driving home.
Sources in the Yad Yair circle told Tazpit news agency that this year—unlike previous years—the Purim service was conducted without interruptions by Israeli security forces, after IDF Benjamin Brigade approached the Yad Yair group seeking to coordinate the event and secure it, which took place.
Despite the military support, the convoy to the Yad Yair outpost was attacked with stones and Molotov cocktails by the residents of Ein Kinya village. The IDF used crowd dispersing means to secure passage for the convoy, but several vehicles were damaged.
Rabbi Meir Goldmintz, who lived Yad Yair until its demolition, told Tzpit: “If the road had been kept open, there would be no problems there. During the 17 years in which we rode to Yad Yair without coordination and military support, there were no problems on the road, and the Arabs did not dare to throw a stone. But now, when we were forced to obey the army request that we ‘fortify’ and travel in convoy, the Arabs raised their heads, waited for the convoy and hit it.”