30-Apr-13: UPDATED Stabbed this morning, an Israeli is murdered

From Tapuah Junction in the Shomron district of Israel, close to the southern exit from Shechem (Nablus), scene of many previous attacks and attempted attacks [some links] by terror-minded Palestinian Arabs, there is a report this morning of a killing during the morning rush hour. Times of Israel says

"An Israeli was killed Tuesday morning after he was stabbed and shot by a Palestinian at the Tapuah junction in the northern West Bank. The attacker stabbed the Israeli, grabbed his weapon, and according to some accounts shot him at close range. He then shot at nearby Border Police, who returned fire and succeeded in subduing him. The victim, who was in his early 20s, was declared dead at the scene after medical personnel’s resuscitation efforts failed. The attacker was evacuated to Beilinson hospital in Petah Tikva in moderate condition. The Tapuah junction, near the city of Ariel, has seen many attacks against settlers in recent years." [Times of Israel]

Jerusalem Post says the victim is 32 year old man, the father of five children. The BBC says the attacker is from the Palestinian Arab town of Tulkarm. [UPDATE: The victim has been named as Eviatar Borowski, a resident of the nearby community of Yitzhar.] The BBC and The Guardian, in their customary disgraceful fashion, describe the murdered man as "settler", ideologically summing up both his life and the complex political environment in which today's hateful act of terror - yet another in a long, ongoing war - happened.

Maan News Agency names the "suspect" as Salam al-Zaghal. He is under arrest and receiving hospital care at this time. We have seen reports that he was a prisoner in an Israeli jail until some weeks ago. More details when we know them.

YNet's report reminds us of a previous stabbing at the same location in January 2013 (we wrote about it here). Then, the victim was a teenage boy who survived with light to moderate injuries. The attacker, a terrorist in his twenties from Ramallah, was apprehended.

The IDF security checkpoint near Tapuah Junction was removed at some point in recent months. Haaretz quotes Gershon Mesika, the head of the Shomron Regional Council, saying this morning that security-related incidents (their reporter means to say acts of terrorism) at Tapuah Junction "have recently increased five-fold". There's evidently a connection but Haaretz refrains from stating it.

We wrote after one of the many previous terror attacks at the same location [see "28-May-12: Tapuah Junction: Yet another suspect nabbed with pipe bombs on him"]:

It's good to have luck on your side. But when even one of these jihadists gets through the security and manages to reach his target - ordinary people, ordinary places, just as long as they are Israelis or Jews - the price we pay is unbearably high. Being at war with terrorists calls for endless vigilance.

Today, unfortunately, luck ran out.