January to March, 2006: A Chronology

High-speed car chase, March 21, 2006

2006-Mar-30	Ambushed: Rafi Halevy and his wife Helena, driving home from Karnei Shomron, stop to pick up some hitchhikers, two girls... and a Palestinian Arab masquerading as a Jew. As the vehicle approaches the Israeli town of Kedumim, the Arab explodes. Al Aqsa Martyr Brigades proudly claim credit. In all, four innocent Israeli civilians are killed.
2006-Mar-21	Intercept: Catastrophe narrowly averted: acting on pinpoint intelligence, Israeli forces spot and then pursue a van in a high-speed car chase on Israel's main artery, the Jerusalem/Tel-Aviv highway, snarling traffic throughout the country. The Arabs are apprehended, and forced to strip to their underwear (prompting savage protests) to prevent further injury or death to those they hate. Their van is found to be filled with explosives intended for a massive bombing of an Israeli city. Huge number of innocent lives are saved.
2006-Mar-01	Slasher: Armed with a kitchen knife, an Arab man hurls himself at Israelis waiting for a bus at Gush Etzion junction, a few minutes south of Jerusalem. Stabbing whomever he can reach, he slashes a 17-year-old girl and a 25 year-old man who had recently immigrated from India. Both victims, with their attacker, are rushed to Hadassah Ein Karem hospital's emergency room.Reported in Israel but almost nowhere else. But there is more to this story than meets the eye. Haaretz, delving a little deeper, says: "Young Palestinians who are being apprehended almost daily with knives at West Bank roadblocks apparently wish to be sent to Israeli prison, where they can study for their matriculation exams in peace. Since the beginning of the year, 101 Palestinians have been caught at roadblocks with knives in their possession... these incidents have increased by tens of percentages... [The] unofficial explanation that is corroborated by Palestinian sources, including the arrested youngsters: some of them - military sources estimate at 50 percent - wanted to be arrested. Since the beginning of March, seven Palestinians carrying knives were arrested at the Salem roadblock, on the Green Line, at the northwestern exit from Jenin. Five others were caught with firecrackers or pipe bombs. The soldiers got the impression that the youngsters wanted to turn themselves in. At the southern exit from Nablus, in Hawara, youths carrying ammunition or pipe bombs are arrested almost daily. In some cases they make no attempt to conceal the firearms. According to the Central Command, the youngsters wish to be caught and jailed mainly to pass their matriculation exams, this summer, in Israeli prison. At home it is difficult for them to study due to economic constraints and the subsequent need to help their families make a living." Remember reading this in your mainstream newspaper? Didn't think so. UPDATE: A Reuters report picks this theme up on 11-May-06 in a Jerusalem-datelined article called "In desperation, Palestinians seek prison in Israel". (Why do journalists keep reaching for the 'desperation' word when reporting on problems in Palestinian Arab society?)
2006-Feb-21	Rockets: Terrorists operating from Bethlehem are stopped by Israeli security en route to launching rocket attacks on Jerusalem's suburbs. Under interrogation, gang members admit to planning mortar and deadly small-arms attacks on the Gilo and Har Homa neighborhoods. Their leader turns out to be a salaried senior member of the Palestine Authority's National Security Service (whose budget is provided by donor countries, mainly in Europe - an old and painful issue that has never been resolved but keeps getting worse).
2006-Feb-05	Stabbings: In Petah Tikva, a Tel-Aviv-area suburb, a Palestinian Arab man traveling in a public minibus slashes fellow passengers, killing a 60-year-old woman - Kinneret Ben-Shalom Hajbi, a mother of three who was on her way to a Tel-Aviv hospital where she was a volunteer, and who preferred a minibus as a safer alternative to the public bus. 5 other passengers are wounded, four in serious condition.
2006-Feb-02	Bomber: At Hawara crossover point near Nablus, a Palestinian Arab woman is spotted carrying pipe-bombs under her clothing and arrested. No one dies, no one is injured; she is arrested.
2006-Jan-19	Bombing: A Palestinian Arab man walks in to the Rosh Ha-eer restaurant near Tel Aviv's Old Central Bus Station. He explodes. 33 people are injured; fortunately no fatalities. The man with the bomb dies. Islamic Jihad proudly claims credit for this major achievement. (Now look at what happened on April 17, 2006.)