Tekoa woman attacked by mob

Violent clashes between Palestinians and IDF continue across West Bank

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Updated: OCTOBER 8, 2015 01:08
Israeli motorists wounded in ambush on her vehicle in the West Bank near Bethelehem (photo credit: TEKOA COUNCIL SPOKESPERSON‏)
Israeli motorists wounded in ambush on her vehicle in the West Bank near Bethelehem
(photo credit: TEKOA COUNCIL SPOKESPERSON‏)
A Tekoa resident was attacked by a group of Palestinian rioters who tried to pull her from her car while she was stuck in traffic outside the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour near Bethlehem on Wednesday.
Police said the rioters had blocked the road with stones and began throwing rocks at motorists.
Victim Rivi Lev-Ohayon was in stable condition at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem after being kicked multiple times by the attackers.
24 hours of terror in Israel
“I looked death in the eye,” she told reporters, “and I am suffering from real anxiety, wondering how I can go on in my daily life. I live in Tekoa and have to drive to Jerusalem every day.”
A few minutes later, motorist Josh Hasten, a resident of Elazar and freelance writer for The Jerusalem Post, said he was driving past Beit Sahour and was about 500 meters from an IDF checkpoint when he saw traffic slow to a crawl, and then “around 50 Arabs began running toward me with murder in their eyes.”
Hasten said they began throwing rocks and cinder blocks at his car and others, drivers of which were lightly hurt. He then added that he fired his licensed pistol in the air to scatter the rock-throwers and that he feels lucky to be alive.
Security forces arrested 15 Palestinian security suspects in West Bank raids on Wednesday, including three men suspected of hurling rocks at an Israeli vehicle traveling on Route 60, which lightly wounded a one-yearold Israeli baby on Tuesday.
“After intelligence was received on the suspects who threw rocks at an Israeli car containing a woman and her baby, tracing the suspects to the village of Luban Ash-Sharqiya, a Home Front Command battalion scoured the scene of the attack, finding items on the scene that they linked to the attackers,” the IDF said.
The IDF and Shin Bet then arrested three suspects in the West Bank village.
A total of 15 Palestinians suspected of taking part in rioting and attacks were arrested early on Wednesday, including two Hamas men arrested in Hebron out of a total of six Hebron suspects taken into custody.
In an arrest operation carried out by the Etzion territorial brigade to decrease attacks on Route 60, three battalions entered the towns of Halhoul and Beit Umar, north of Hebron, arresting nine suspected rock and firebomb throwers.
Palestinians clashed with the IDF across the West Bank on Wednesday, as in previous days. In Rachel’s Tomb, near Bethlehem, 100 Palestinians hurled rocks at Border Police officers. In Psagot, some 80 Palestinans hurled rocks at soldiers. One rioter was arrested and transferred to police custody by the army. Soldiers responded with non-lethal crowd control measures.
At Ayosh Square between Ramallah and Beit El, about 400 Palestinians hurled rocks, firebombs, and burning tires, and IDF soldiers responded with non-lethal riot control means.
In Nebi Salah, two dozen Palestinians threw rocks and flung them from sling shots, and in Hebron’s Hassam Shoter checkpoint, 120 Palestinians threw rocks at soldiers, who responded with crowd control measures. Thirty Palestinans threw rocks and burning tires at Zif junction in Judea, prompting soldiers to respond with crowd control measures.