Thursday, January 14, 2010

PA Arabs Try to Knock Israeli Car off Highway 443


Hillel Fendel
A7 News

The decision to allow PA Arabs onto Route 443 to Jerusalem has not yet been implemented, and Arabs tried this morning to murder Jews there. They tried to run an Israeli car off the highway, but were unsuccessful - and soon arrested. The incident occurred on Thursday morning on Route 443 between Jerusalem and Modiin. An Arab-driven car drove aside an Israeli car, which unbeknownst to the Arabs was being driven by a Border Guard policeman. The Arab car attempted to push the other car off the road, but he managed to evade them and then took the offensive, ordering them to stop.

The Arabs stopped shortly afterwards about 15 meters away from the Jewish car – and began attacking him with rocks. The policeman, realizing that his life was in danger, pulled out his gun and fired twice in the air. The Arab attackers then jumped back into their car and quickly drove off – but were stopped at a nearby junction outside both Ramallah and the Ofer Prison, where they were arrested.

The well-traveled highway was closed to Palestinian Authority cars in 2000 during a wave of terrorist attacks. Though a parallel road was built alongside a large part of it for Arab travel, local Arabs petitioned the Supreme Court in 2007 to be able to use the highway. The Court ruled last month that they were in the right, and ordered the army to find ways to ensure both Jewish security and Arab travel rights within five months.

Some PA Arabs are equipped with various permits allowing them to use the highway even now.

A request by MK Ophir Akunis (Likud) for a re-hearing on the issue by the Supreme Court has been turned down by the Attorney General’s office. However, the Israel Law Center is planning to file a class action suit against the decision, and MKs have said they will introduce special legislation to enable the road to be closed to PA traffic.

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