There's been yet another shooting attack tonight on Israeli civilians driving on the roads. Ynet reports that a couple traveling from the Mount Hebron area (where there are numerous Israeli communities) to Jerusalem came under fire from gunmen. But - and this is why it will not be reported in the general news media - they were not hurt, thankfully, though their vehicle is riddled with bullet-holes. IDF forces are currently scouring the al-Walaja and Har Gilo area (roughly five kiolmeters south of Jerusalem) for the shooters.
UPDATE Monday morning 1-Nov-10: An announcement by the IDF Spokesperson's Office says a Palestinian Arab man suspected of involvement in the shooting attack yesterday evening was arrested early Sunday morning by IDF forces. He is Muhaned Muhamed Mahmud Aze, 34, from Bethlehem. He confessed to carrying out the attack and is now under arrest. Worth mentioning here that with prisoner releases under constant discussion here, in the context of a possible deal for the release of the Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit, this man Aze would be classified as being "without blood on his hands" (since his shooting spree mostly failed) and highly likely to be on the list of terrorists to be freed. His picture and exploits have gotten no media coverage, which is fairly unremarkable, but all of this leads to a kind of engineered apathy in which practitioners of terrorism merge into the background, somehow free of the outrage and fear that their religiously inspired murderous exploits out to evoke.
For those of us who feel the outrage and fear, here are some additional points to ponder. This particular gunperson, Aze, is connected to Hamas (source: Haaretz). Haaretz points out that "the majority of Hamas' activities in the West Bank are being orchestrated by Palestinian militants formerly imprisoned in Israel, who returned to terrorism after being released over the last few years... These cells have also had a harder time harboring weapons and ammunition, due to mass raids by the IDF and Palestinian Authority security forces. But the Central Command believes that the Hamas cells are still intent on carrying out shooting attacks, and the IDF, Shin Bet and PA forces have intensified their crackdowns."
Lest you thought the terrorism in our neighbourhood was in retreat.
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