Huwara Attacks Highlight Dangers for Israelis Shopping in Palestinian Towns

i24 News – In Huwara, the Palestinian town that has become the new epicenter of terrorism in the West Bank, store fronts bear inscriptions in Hebrew, clearly aimed at attracting Israeli customers.

And there are plenty of them.

Inhabitants of nearby settlements or large Israeli towns, hundreds of them, brave the danger every year to take advantage of prices halved or tripled. On Saturdays in particular, they can be seen shopping or repairing their vehicles, despite warnings from the army that they are putting their lives at risk.

The same applies to the nearby villages of Nabi Elias, Hussan and Deir Kadis.

Yet there is no shortage of tragic reminders. Since the beginning of the year, Huwara has been the scene of a succession of gun attacks, many of them fatal. While many of these Israelis had simply driven through for lack of choice, last Saturday, a father and son lost their lives while having their car washed in the locality, after having had their teeth treated.

Alerted to the presence of the Israelis by a third party, the terrorist simply drove over to where they were and shot them dead at point-blank range.

Last October, in the Palestinian village of Hussan near Beitar illit, another Israeli by the name of Yonatan Hershlag was injured in the head by a thrown concrete block, before being saved from being lynched, while shopping there. After the incident, he told Israel Hayom that he had been unaware of the danger, believing that the local lure of profit prevented Israeli customers from being targeted.

Two weeks after this incident, Shalom Sofer, owner of a grocery store in the Jewish settlement of Kedumim, was stabbed while shopping in the nearby Palestinian town of Al-Funduk. He died of his wounds a few weeks later.

Five days later, another Israeli, Ronen Hanania, was murdered while shopping in Hebron. Last month, Israelis entering the village of Deir Kadis in Samaria to wash their car were pursued by a knife-wielding terrorist. They managed to escape.

“People don’t realize the danger. They just come for treatment or to buy sanitary accessories for their bathroom and are targeted by terrorists,” said a source in the IDF. “They risk their lives trying to save a few shekels.”

The same is true of the police, who have been warning of this particularly serious phenomenon for months:

“A person who enters Zone A of the West Bank can, without a doubt, die. It doesn’t matter for what purpose the Israeli entered the village, the terrorists aren’t interested in the motive. It doesn’t matter if they entered to buy pita bread, to repair their car or for medical treatment. The danger is the same. It’s not worth the risk,” a senior police officer told Israel Hayom.

Although large red signs in front of Palestinian settlements forbid entry to Israelis, in practice it is very difficult to enforce this measure. Since Israeli Arabs can go there without being bothered, the authorities have no real way of sorting Israeli citizens at the entrance to the settlements in question.

In the wake of last Saturday’s attack in Huwara, in which Shai Nigreker and his son Aviad Nir lost their lives, the president of the dentists’ union, Dr. Lior Katsep, appealed via Israel Hayom: “I don’t know how many victims we need to have before Israelis stop traveling to Palestinian localities for treatment. People are genuinely risking their lives for dental care, a car, or cheap furniture. This has to stop.”

There was a time, not so long ago, before the first and second Intifadas, when Israelis flocked to Palestinian towns to do their shopping at lower cost. Shopkeepers and customers were happy, and transactions were carried out in harmony.

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