Former Samaria council head runs over terror suspect to thwart stabbing in West Bank

In separate incident near Ma'aleh Adumim settlement, Palestinian taxi driver who stabbed and lightly injured Israeli is shot and killed.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Updated: NOVEMBER 22, 2015 11:46
Scene of attempted stabbing attack in West Bank
Citizens and security forces killed a female Palestinian terrorist who attempted to knife Israelis as they waited by a bus stop and a hitch-hiking post, near the Hawara checkpoint just outside the city of Nablus in the West Bank on Sunday.
Among them was former Samaria Council head Gershon Mesika, who ran over the terrorist with his car.
He had stopped at the bus stop to pick up hitch-hikers.
“I heard someone yelling, "terrorist, terrorist!” he later explained.
“I looked up. I saw someone large running after a young woman. I didn’t think twice, I turned the steering wheel to the right, I pressed my foot onto the gas, and ran her over,” he said.
“She fell over and then security forces shot her,” he said.
His car, Mesika said, dropped slightly into a nearby ditch, but it was after he had already halted. He was not injured, he added.
There were two young women and two or three other people who were in the midst of getting into a car, he said.
It was his understanding, he said, that the terrorist had been dropped off in a car from Nablus, and then attempted to stab the young woman.
Avigail Shomriyah, 21, said that she had been at the bus stop attempting to hitch a ride to her college, when the terrorist attempted to stab her.
“I turned around and saw a terrorist with a large knife and murderous looking eyes. It was a very large knife. I ran in the direction of the soldiers, she ran after me. Then Gershon ran her over. Then they shot her,” Shomriya said.
“I continued to run, I was afraid someone would run over me,” Shomriyah said.
A resident of the nearby Itamar settlement had also stopped to pick up hitch-hikers, when the Palestinian woman took out her knife.
“I got out of my car. Gershon had already run her over. I shot her twice. Then a soldier shot her twice,” he said.
“That is how my morning began,” he added.
Yossi Dagan, who now heads the Samaria Regional Council, said, “It is a shame that we in Israel have to deal with these scenes on a daily basis.
"We regret that this is our routine, but we can do nothing but praise that there are civilians like these," Dagan said referring to Mesika.
(Photo: Gershon Mesika)
Separately, a Palestinian taxi driver rammed into an Israeli car and then attempted to stab an Israeli at the scene with the a knife.
Police superintendent Rafi Cohen, from the Ma’aleh Adumim station, said that the Palestinian tax driver hit the Israeli car on Route 1, by the Mishor Adumim junction around 10:15 a.m in what police initially believed was simply a car accident. Still police forces arrived at the scene, in light of the heightened security situation, Cohen said.
After it was hit, the Israeli car spun around and came to a stop on the side of the road, Cohen said. Another Israeli car that saw the accident stopped at the scene.
Then the taxi driver got out of the cab with a 20-centimeter kitchen knife and lightly stabbed an Israeli at the scene in the hand. Two other Israelis that saw this, shot the terrorist and killed him, Cohen said.