Israel Mourns 4 Children, Mother Murdered in Terror Attack
By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency
Jerusalem----May 2....Palestinian terrorists murdered 4 young Jewish children and their pregnant mother this afternoon. The terror attack targeted the family vehicle while it was traveling on the road that leads to the Gaza Strip settlement bloc of Gush Katif.
Another Israeli civilian traveling in a separate car suffered moderate gunfire wounds in the attack near the Netzer Hazani settlement.
The terrorists arrived by car from the nearby Palestinian village of Dir al Ballah and began to fire at passing Israeli vehicles, consequently killing the mother and her four children. Another Israeli traveling in the opposite direction, was also wounded.
After spraying the station wagen with bullets, the Palestinian terrorists walked up to the 4 terrified little girls and shot each one of them twice in the head, police said. The 8-month-old pregnant mother was shot in her belly at point blank range as she tried to cover her children
The victims of the attack were identified as Tali Hatuel, 34, and her daughters Hila (11), Hadar (9), Roni (7) and Merav (2). Tali's husband was not in the car at the time of the attack, ynet reported. The Hatuels lived on the Gush Katif settlement of Katif.
An Israel Defense Forces jeep arrived at the scene and engaged in gunfire with the terrorists, killing them. During the gun battle an explosion took place but it was still unclear whether it was caused by a grenade or by a bomb.
Two IDF Givati brigade soldiers were wounded during the gun battle and were airlifted to Soroka hospital in Be'er Sheva together with the Israeli civilian.
Following the terror attack, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz canceled his participation in the groundbreaking ceremony of the Center of Human Dignity Museum of Tolerance, sponsored by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, in Jerusalem Sunday.
Israel responded with an IDF helicopter attack launching three missiles at a building in Gaza City housing radio stations affiliated with the Hamas terror group and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah party.
The missiles, which hit the top corner of the 14-story building near the radio stations' offices, caved in part of the roof and cut off electricity to the building. The roof's red tiles were blown off and smoke rose through the exposed rafters.
Military sources said the IDF had attacked a Hamas radio station that had been broadcasting messages of incitement.
After the first missile hit, the building shook and glass started flying everywhere, said Fathi Sabbah, an editor at Al Ayyam.
"Everybody was trying to get out ... but then they hit the building again. Glass flew everywhere, and the building shook," he said.
"The blasts were very powerful," said Moin Saraj, 35, a journalist at Al Ayyam.
People ran in panic through the streets after the attack. Ambulances and fire engines raced to the scene.
"I feel the pain of the family and I wish that the wounded will heal," said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "Israel will not yield and will continue fighting terror until it is destroyed just like we are fighting it now."
"The disengagement plan is a harsh blow to the Palestinians who will do anything to prevent it from being accepted. The murder was intended to delay and interfere with the plan," he added.
"We will fight terror and do everything possible to prevent such incidents in the future and that is why I am struggling for my plan."
The IDF helicopter attack was most likely the first wave of defensive action taken by Israel.
The terror attack against Israeli children only provided fuel for Jewish leaders in Gaza saying that the attack proves that Likud members must vote against the disengagement plan in order not to give a prize to terrorists.
Meanwhile Sunday, the Israel Likud party referendum on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan opened at 8 AM with polls to close at 10 PM. Final results will be announced at 2 AM Monday.
Some 443 polls have been set up for the 193,000 card-carrying Likud members who are eligible to vote. Roughly 1, 300 security guards and police will secure the proceedings throughout the country. 176 lawyers have been tasked with overseeing the vote's legality.
An explosive device was detonated near the site of the shooting while the Israel Defense Forces troops were chasing the terrorists, but it caused no injuries.
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad and Popular Resistance Committees, an umbrella group, claimed responsibility for the "heroic" attack in a call to The Associated Press.
The resistance committees said the attack was in response to Israel's recent assassinations of the founder of the Hamas militant group, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi.
"The attack is part of the Palestinian reprisals for the daily crimes committed by the Israeli army against the Palestinian people, especially the killings of Yassin and Rantisi," the group said.
David Hatuel wept in front of five mounds of brown soil, the fresh graves of his pregnant wife and four daughters - his entire family.
"I am all alone, there is no one left," he said in a whisper.
TV footage showed rescue workers sifting through the white Citroen station wagon, a poster reading "A Jewish heart votes no" plastered across the car hood.
A medic wiped blood off a baby seat, two small bright pink shoes lay on the blood-soaked carpet of the bullet-riddled car.
Settlers and opponents of the Sharon plan have said a withdrawal from Gaza would be a reward for attacks like these. A bumper sticker on the back of the car read "Uprooting the settlements - a victory for terror".
At the funeral, David Hatuel apologised to his family for spending so much time away from them campaigning against the plan to uproot the Gaza homes.
"Only on Friday, the girls drew me a picture and said 'Daddy, we are so proud of you for working so hard to save our home," he said, calling his daughters, his "flowers". "Tali," he said, "everything I have, everything I did, I did for her."
Tali Hatuel was a social worker and counselled the families of victims from attacks by Palestinian militants, friends said.
"She was quiet and shy ... she was a very serious person," her neighbour Ezra Haidu said.
In Gaza City, about 1,500 people joined an Islamic Jihad march celebrating the barbaric attack. Islamic Jihad said the attack was in response to Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi.
"The goal of this attack was to confirm the continuation of the resistance," said Khader Habib, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza.
The spotlight is now on PA Chairman Yasser Arafat as many Israeli sources consider him next in line for assassination after master terrorists Yassin and Rantisi were killed by Israeli security. Arafat, who signed the Oslo Peace Accords and agreed to the US brokered Road Map peace plan, has broken these commitments by not confronting terror organizations under his control. Recently Arafat ordered 20 wanted terrorists to leave his home in Rahmallah fearing an immediate Israeli attack against him.
Settlement leader Yehoshua Mor-Yosef said the dead were all Gush Katif residents. A resident of Gush Katif settlement Kfar Darom said the family was on its way to campaign against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan. The attack took place the same day as the party referendum on the pullout from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz canceled scheduled appearances Sunday and planned to convene with top security officials to plan a response to the attack, military sources said.
Opponents and proponents of the disengagement plan interpreted the attack according to their respective political convictions, with Likud MK Yuval Steinitz saying the attack did not make the plan any less necessary and Likud MK Ehud Yatom saying the attack must enhance the fierce opposition to disengagement.
The attack was the first to kill civilians in Gaza in more than a year.
Israel MK Ehud Yatom, who opposes PM Sharon's disengagement plan, stated: "The purpose of the attack is to create a situation where the surrender to terrorism and escape come sooner. Therefore, Likud voters' response to terrorism must be opposition to the surrender plan".
Israel Minister Yisrael Katz said that the attack should not be linked to the disengagement poll, but added: "The attack reinforces the Chief of Staff's claim that disengagement gives terrorism a backwind".
MK Uri Ariel (National Union) demanded forceful action against the terrorists. "I demand that the Defense Minister order the demolition of houses on both sides of the Kissufim road and that the High Court of Justices refrains from again delaying action that is essential to the security of Israeli citizens", he said.
Israeli Minister Gideon Ezra, who does support the PM's plan, said: "Our hearts are with the Katif Block residents. The poll today is intended to address exactly those painful issues. The government is obligated to protect its citizens, to fight terrorism, and to remain only in places optimal for us".
Ezra added: "The Gaza region is protected by a fence, and whoever gets near it will by killed. We are obligated to go along with the Prime Minister, the Chief of Staff, and the chiefs of the GSS and of IDF Intelligence, who know better than all of us".
Palestinian terrorists repeatedly use their own children as suicide bombers and as human shields when attacking Israelis and have intentionally targeted Israeli children in recent months. Matan, 5, and Noam Ohion, 4, and their mother were shot and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist at Kibbutz Metzer in central Israel last November. The terrorists walked into the child's bedroom and shot the children as they were sitting in their beds.
Security sources said the body of the boys' mother, Revital, 34, was riddled with bullets, apparently because she had tried to shield her children as the gunman burst into the children's room.
The terrorist burst in as the mother was reading the children a bedtime story.The Islamic madman then killed two more Israelis at the kibbutz before escaping in the dark. Dozens of Israeli children have been murdered and hundreds injured on public buses and in restaurants which were targets for Palestinian terrorism. In April of 2002, both Israeli senior citizens and their small grandchildren were slaughtered when a Palestinian terrorist blew up the Park Hotel in Netanya, killing 29 Jews in what's referred to as the Passover Massacre.
Yasser Arafat, who was born in Egypt, claims that "Palestine" is occupied and that "armed resistance" is the only solution to ending the "occupation." The West Bank was Jordan and Gaza was Egypt prior to the 1967 Israel Arab war. When Palestinians claim that Palestine is occupied, they are not referring to Nablus, Jenin or Rahmallah, they are directly referring to all of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean - the State of Israel.
Many Israeli and world leaders believe that regional stability will not be realized until Arafat has been expelled or assassinated and replaced with a Palestinian leader who will confront terror, create jobs for Palestinians and seek a true and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Eight Israelis and one Belgian who are victims of terrorism have filed a lawsuit in Brussels charging Yasser Arafat with "genocide, murder and crimes against humanity."
The suit was organized by the Terror Victims Association of Israel.
Oscar Gudlovitch, the Belgian involved in the suit who claims he was wounded when PLO terrorists attacked a Brussels synagogue in 1982, said that until now, he "was afraid to file any legal action against Arafat."
Meanwhile, at a press conference to announce the suit, Meir Indor, chief of the Terror Victims Association, said the action gives the international community "a chance to put Arafat where he rightfully belongs - in prison for mass murder, and not in the parlors of Europe receiving prizes for peace."
Yaacov Rubin, a lawyer for the group, said he believes the world media is generally anti-Israel.
"The world press will now have to face the terrible genocide that Arafat has waged for 30 years against the Jewish people," he said in Brussels.
Paris criminal lawyer Robert Goldnadel will also represent the group. Both attorneys will work on a voluntary basis and are not charging fees for their service. Yehudit Shahor - who became a lawyer after her son was murdered by terrorists in Wadi Kelt - is also assisting the other attorneys, the Jerusalem Post newspaper said last week.
In Brussels representing the 30 Israeli signatories to the suit were Hanna Maoz, whose daughter was one of 15 killed in the Sbarro Pizzeria bombing in Jerusalem Aug. 9; Yisrael Liebman, whose brother was murdered in the settlement of Yitzhar; Frida Sweri, whose daughter, son and son-in-law were killed in a drive-by shooting near Beit Horon; Irena Rudin, whose daughter was killed in the Dolphinarium suicide-bombing in Tel Aviv; and Aryeh Bosnah, who was wounded in a 1974 PLO attack on a school in Maalot.
Officials with TVA say they have evidence that directly links Arafat to a number of terrorist attacks committed by groups such as Fatah, Force 17, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.
The suit charges Arafat "with murders which he ordered and which were carried out by members of organizations which Arafat controls," according to a statement issued on the group's website.
The suit also charges Arafat's assistants - Mohammed Dahlan, Marwan Barghoutti and Jibril Rajoub - with murder and genocide.
Arafat's crimes transcend the murder of Jews.
Yassir Arafat has compiled a record of atrocities which would be the envy of past war criminals. If one compiles a list in date order from the PLO's inception in 1964, specifying all those attacks which were ordered by Arafat. From the blowing-up of planes, through thousands of terrorist attacks, ordering the execution of American Ambassador to Sudan, Cleo No'l, charges des affaires George Moore and the Belgium aid, Guy Eid in Khartoum.
During the 12 year Civil War in Lebanon, caused by Yassir Arafat's assuming power through terror, his terrorists committed mass murder. Whole villages of Christians like Damour were massacred, chopped into pieces with machetes. Out of the 30,000 Christians, 10,000 were slaughtered by Arafat's PLO. The town was then occupied and kept as Arafat's stronghold. David Shipler of the New York Times wrote the story of Damour June 21, 1982. There were individual murders. One horrific, but typical, example is when the Muktar (leader) of a village refused to be cooperative with Arafat and his terrorists. The Muktar's teenage daughter was abducted and raped. Her breasts were cut off and she was delivered to the doorstep of her father in a sack.
In any hospital controlled by Arafat's terrorists, captured Christians became live blood banks for wounded Palestinians. Israeli soldiers who captured these hospitals found bodies drained of all their blood and stacked, like cordwood, in the hallways.
As of late September 2003, according to the head of Israeli military intelligence, Maj.-Gen. Zeevi-Farkash, Arafat orders for terrorist attacks were actually coming directly from Arafat's headquarters.
More recently, Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction of the PLO shot and killed George Khoury (20) as he was jogging in Jerusalem's French Hill neighborhood. Khoury was the son of an Israel Arab lawyer who has for years championed the "Palestinian" effort to build a state in the Land of Israel, and who has represented terror suspects in Israeli courts.
Arafat, in a clear racist gesture, stated that this was a case of mistaken identity - because their victim turned out to be an Arab instead of a Jew.
Nearly 30 years ago, Arab terrorists murdered Khoury's grandfather in downtown Jerusalem.
After the terror attack, Arafat personally called Khoury's father, Elias, to apologize for the "accidental" killing, confirming to many the conviction that the terror chief is personally responsible for acts of terrorism that have claimed hundreds of lives on both sides.
The U.S. State Department has renewed a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of those involved in the terror attack of a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Gaza last October.
The October 15 roadside terror bombing killed three American security personnel working for the U.S. military contractor DynCorp as they guarded American diplomats traveling into Gaza to interview Palestinians who were candidates for Fulbright Scholarship grants.
Israel News Agency
