'Terrorist killer was a PA officer'

Soldier sitting in jeep stabbed, crashes vehicle as he tries to escape.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, YAAKOV LAPPIN
Tapuah attack 311 (photo credit: AP)
Tapuah attack 311
(photo credit: AP)
The terrorist who stabbed an IDF soldier to death at the Tapuahjunction on Wednesday afternoon was a Palestinian Authority policeofficer from Yabed, according to IDF sources.
The IDF soldier was named as First-Sgt. Ihab Khatib, 26, from the northern village of Marar. He served as a logistics non-commissioned officer in the Kfir Brigade.
Khatib was waiting in his Sufa jeep in a queue of traffic when he was stabbed in the chest through an open window.
In the soldier's attempt to speed away, the vehicle overturned.
The PA officer, identified as Mahmoud Hattib, was then run over and lightly hurt by a local securityofficer from the nearby settlement of Rehelim. He was then arrested bypolice. Defense officials assessed that Hattib worked alone.
First-Sgt. Ihab Khatib.
First-Sgt. Ihab Khatib.
Khatib was evacuated to Petah Tikva's Beilinson Hospital, where he succumbed to the knife wounds.
The soldier is survived by a father, a mother, two brothers and three sisters. Several years ago, his uncle was killed in action. In the Second Lebanon War, his aunt was killed when a Katyusha rocket fired by Hizbullah hit her house.
Palestinian Authority Prime MinisterSalam Fayyad denounced the attack and said it "conflicts with ournational interests." He pledged to take steps to prevent such incidentsin the future, while endorsing "peaceful resistance" againstsettlements and the security barrier.
An over turned IDF jeep is seen after a stabbing attack in the West Bank junction of Tapuah, near Nablus Wednesday. (AP)
An over turned IDF jeep is seen after a stabbing attack in the West Bank junction of Tapuah, near Nablus Wednesday. (AP)
The Binyamin and Samaria Citizens' Committee blasted Defense Minister Ehud Barak after the deadly attack.
“It’sno small wonder that when the defense minister is busy implementing theracist settlement construction freeze and with vain arrests ofsettlers, the terrorists and their accomplices are celebrating,” read astatement from the organization. “Today, the settlement freeze monitorsvisited Kfar Tapuah while the terror attack took place right undertheir noses.”
In December, after months of quiet in the WestBank, 45-year-old father of seven Meir Chai was killed in a drive-byshooting attack near the northern Samaria settlement of Shavei Shomron.
Chaiwas the fourth person killed by terrorists in the West Bank in 2009. InMarch, two traffic policemen, Senior Warrant Officers YehezkelRamazreger and Chief Warrant Officer David Rabinovitch, were shot deadin the Jordan Valley, and in April, 13-year-old Shlomo Nativ wasstabbed to death near his home in the Gush Etzion settlement of BatAyin.
AP contributed to this report.