Shaul Nir, one of the leaders of the “Jewish Underground” that operated in Judea and Samaria the 1980s, was injured late Wednesday night in a shooting attack near the village of Avnei Hefets in Samaria. Arab terrorists fired at the vehicle Nir was driving, which took some 20 bullets, and as a result he lost control and drove into a ditch. A spokesperson for Rabin Medical Center in Petach Tikva said that Nir is in serious condition and is sedated and on a respirator. He is expected to undergo additional surgeries during the day. His wife’s condition is mild, and she was transferred overnight to the same hospital where her husband is being cared for.
In 1980-84, the “Jewish Underground” carried out a series of attacks, including car bombs, against several Arab officials, causing Shechem mayor Bassam Shakaa to lose both his legs and Ramallah mayor Karim Khalaf to lose one of his legs. Twenty-five Jews were arrested and tried on long list of charges, including a plot to blow up the Dome of the Rock, a 1983 attack on an Islamic College, an aborted bus attack, and the attempted assassination of several mayors. Three of the accused, Shaul Nir, Menachem Livni and Uzi Sharbav, were sentenced to life in prison, but their sentences were commuted by then President Chaim Herzog (late father of opposition leader MK Yitzhak Herzog), and they were released after serving only seven years.
The Nir couple’s son, Itzhak, told Walla, “My mother suffered injuries in her arm and leg, but she is keeping cool and will be fine. Dad will also come out of this.” He related that his parents were visiting his sister to light Hanukkah candles. “When they were on their way home to Jerusalem they were fired at. It’s Hanukkah time and miracles happen, the Jewish people always get miracles,” he said.
According to Arab media sources, dozens of Arabs were injured Wednesday night in clashes with Israeli security forces that stormed the city of Tulkarem in Samaria following the attack on the Nir couple near Avnei Hefets. Local sources told the Palestinian Information Center that security forces entered the Nur Shams refugee camp. The terrorists blocked the road leading to the hospital in the city, and erected roadblocks to prevent the progress of the security forces. Clashes also erupted at the entrance to the refugee camp, and the soldiers responded with tear gas.
According to eyewitnesses, security forces picked up two suspects in a café in downtown Tulkarem, but there is no information as of yet about their identity. Security forces stormed a local nursery farm and searched there for the runaway terrorists. Undercover units raided the neighborhood of Tinabah in south Tulkarem and raided a cemetery, near which the terrorists had set fire to their car, to avoid being traced. The soldiers surrounded the burning car and prevented local Arabs from going near it.
Local sources said that security forces imposed a curfew on one neighborhood and began to interrogate civilians in their homes, searching for the escaped terrorists. The forces also raided local stores and obtained surveillance cameras. Other forces are currently searching the local hospital of Tulkarem.