Arab Palestinian terrorists murdered four Jewish civilians in a shooting attack at the Bani Naim junction just south of Hevron Tuesday evening august 31, 2010. Assailants firing from a passing car riddled the vehicle with bullets as it travelled near Hebron a volatile city that has been a flash point of violence in the past.

Emergency service paramedics could do nothing to save the victims whose bodies were riddled with bullets. The terrorists reportedly made sure their victims were dead by shooting them from close range after the initial fusillade. One of the victims was pregnant, stated police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. A Zaka volunteer who arrived on the scene broke down in tears when he neared the car and discovered that one of the victims was his wife. The IDF is combing the area, searching for the terrorists.

Israel’s national rescue service stated the victims were two men and two women. The four were all citizens of Beit Hagai. The victims are a husband and wife, parents of ten, and two passengers. Their names were cleared for publication Tuesday night by local police:

Yitzhak and Talia Ames, parents of six
Kochava Even Chaim
Avishai Shindler

Some 500 Israeli Jewish citizens live in heavily fortified enclaves in the city amid more than 100,000 Arab Palestinian settlers. Itamar Ben-Gvir and Baruch Marzel stated at the scene that serious soul-searching must be done “in order to find out how it is that Israeli Jewish citizens are deprived of the basic right to defend themselves.”

It was the deadliest Palestinian attack against Israelis since March 2008, when a lone assailant gunned down eight students in a Jerusalem rabbinical seminary.

IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi arrived on the scene of the attack along with Head of Central Command Major General Avi Mizrahi and Judea and Samaria Commander Brig.-Gen. Nitzan Alon. Ashkenazi stated: “There is no doubt that this is a very difficult event. First, we express our condolences to the victims’ families and to Beit Hagai. We are working in several directions since the event occurred and we will continue to act until we capture the terrorists. IDF along with other security agencies will continue to operate until we capture the murderers who were responsible for this incident. ”

Upon arriving in Washington for this week’s talks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack and said “terror will not determine Israel’s borders or the future of the settlements.” Borders and the fate of Jewish re-settlements on land Arab Palestinians want for a future state are key issues in the negotiations.

Netanyahu faces some domestic opposition from elements of his hard-line coalition of religious and nationalist parties. He has stated that protecting Israel’s security interests will be his top priority in the talks. Heading into a meeting with Clinton, Netanyahu said in the statement he would tell her, “This criminal murder proves again the need to stand firmly on Israel’s stringent security demands, and there will be no compromise on them.” The attack disrupted a relative lull in the West Bank. The last fatal attack occurred in June, when Palestinians opened fire on a police vehicle near Hebron and killed one officer.

Asked about the shooting, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley stated the U.S. is aware “there are those who will do whatever they can to disrupt or derail the process.”

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak promised a tough response to an attack he said was aimed at sabotaging the talks. “Israel will not allow terrorists to raise their heads and will exact a price from the murderers and those who send them,” he said in a statement.

U.N. envoy Robert Serry issued a statement condemning the attack and urging all parties “not to allow the enemies of peace to affect the negotiations about to be launched.” There is widespread opposition to the resumption of the peace talks among Palestinians. Hamas opposes any contact with Israel and has harshly criticized Abbas for agreeing to resume the negotiations.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s office issued a statement charging the attack was aimed at undermining his government’s effort to build international support for the Palestinian position and ending the (Israeli) “occupation of the Jewish Holy Land.”

Hamas, a fierce rival of the Western-backed Palestinian president, expelled Abbas’ forces from Gaza in 2007 and took over the territory. Abbas has been trying to limit the Islamic militants’ reach in the West Bank, jailing activists and even cracking down on mosque preachers. Hamas, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings in Israel, is considered a terrorist group by the U.S., Israel and European Union.

Opposition to resuming talks is also coming from within the Palestine Liberation Organization, an umbrella group headed by Abbas. Some Fatah activists threaten to try to depose him if he makes concessions and several hard-line PLO groups plan a demonstration in the West Bank administrative capital of Ramallah on Wednesday to protest resumption of negotiations.

The Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility. About 3,000 people joined a rally in Gaza to celebrate the attack. Hamas military wing spokesman Abu Obeida was among them and told The Associated Press: “The Qassam Brigades announces its full responsibility for the heroic operation in Hebron.”

The terror attack is typical of Arab attacks that intentionally target civilian victims. A survey carried out by an Arab Palestinian Authority organization in early August found that among the Arab public in the Palestinian Authority, over 55% view violence as either essential or desirable, nearly 31% see it as either acceptable or tolerable, and only 13.7% say it is unacceptable. Evil knows no barriers, civility, morality or God.
A previous U.S. launching of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks was also accompanied by deadly violence. Palestinian gunmen shot and killed an Israeli in the West Bank before then-President George W. Bush convened Israeli and Palestinian leaders for a summit in Annapolis, Maryland, in November 2007. The gunmen stated the attack was “an act of protest against the Annapolis conference.”

Archaeologists in Israel have discovered a bronze bracelet from 3,500 years ago, during the time of the Biblical Joseph; in southeast Tzfat, Ramat Razim neighborhood in the Galilee. The bracelet was found inside the remains of an estate house, part of an ancient settlement that existed in a rocky area overlooking the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights. Made of indigenous limestone, the building included a paved central courtyard surrounded by residential rooms and storerooms. The residents apparently engaged in barter. Along with the bracelet, a Canaanite scarab was found that is made of stone and engraved with Egyptian hieroglyphs. In antiquity, scarabs were worn as pendants or were inlaid in rings, and were used as a seal or talisman with magical powers. The excavation of the first known village from the Late Bronze period with funding provided by the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Housing.

3,500 Year Old Bracelet

Karen Covello-Paran, director of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority stated, “We discovered a rare, wide bracelet made of bronze,” said “The ancient bracelet, which is extraordinarily well-preserved, is decorated with engravings, and the top of it is adorned with a horned structure,” representing power, fertility and law. One who could afford such a bracelet was apparently very well-off financially, “and it probably belonged to the wife or daughter of the village ruler. In the artwork of neighboring lands, gods and rulers were depicted wearing horned crowns; however, such a bracelet, and from an archaeological excavation at that, has never been found here.”

Covello-Paran further stated,“This is the first time that a 3,500-year-old village has been excavated and exposed in the north of Israel.” “To date, only the large cities have been excavated in the region, such as Tel Megiddo or Tel Hazor. Here we have gained a first glimpse of life in the ancient rural hinterland in the north, and it turns out that it was more complex than we thought. It seems that the small village at Ramat Razim constituted part of the periphery of Tel Hazor, the largest and most significant city in the Canaanite region at the time, which is located about 10 kilometers north of the settlement at Ramat Razim.”

The ancient inhabitants of Ramat Razim raised sheep and goats, and farmed. Numerous basalt querns that were used for grinding wheat into flour were found in the building. In addition, we also found large storage vessels that were used to store grain and liquids, which stood on the floor to a height of more than a meter. An ancient oven for cooking was found in one of the residential rooms alongside ceramic cookware and tools, including flint blades, and intact bronze implements such as a long needle (15 centimeters, or 6 inches) for sewing sacks or treating skins, and a long decorated pin that was used to fasten a dress or gown.”

The Israel Antiquities Authority is working to integrate the site in the extensive development plans for Ramat Razim, alongside the research institute and medical school, as an open place for visitors, together with the other nature assets in the region.

Bar Ilan University archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of a Philistine temple in the ancient city of Gath, home of the Biblical Goliath, buried in one of the largest tels (ancient ruin mounds) in Israel.

The temple and a number of ritual items dating back to the 10th century BCE were discovered at Tel Tsafit (Tell es-Safit/Gath) by Professor Aren Maeir of BIU’s Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology and his international team. The tel is located about halfway between Ashkelon and Jerusalem, near Kiryat Gat along the southern coastal plain.

Maeir stated, “Interestingly, the architectural design of this temple, with its two central pillars, is reminiscent of the architectural image that is described in the well-known Biblical story of Samson and the Philistines.” He added that the discovery could indicate that the story of Samson reflects a type of temple that was in use in Philistia at the time. He also said that his team had found impressive evidence of an earthquake in the 8th century BCE, reminiscent of the earthquake mentioned in the Book of Amos 1:1. The team uncovered walls that were moved from their place and collapsed like a deck of cards as a result of the powerful earthquake – assessed at a magnitude of 8 on the Richter scale.

In addition, Maeir stated, the summer’s excavations have uncovered further evidence of the destruction of the city by Hazael, King of Aram Damascus, around 830 BCE, as mentioned in Kings II 12:18, as well as evidence of the first Philistine settlement in Canaan (around 1200 BCE).