The Palestinian town of Huwara “is a hotbed of terror” and its commercial center must be closed, MK Danny Danon (Likud) said after a terrorist killed two Israelis there at point blank range on Saturday.
“The shops there must be immediately closed,” Danon said and the by-pass road must be completed. Until that center is closed, the violence in that town will continue.
“It’s the correct thing to do, despite the financial damage,” he said.
Danon spoke of the section of Route 60, the main artery that cuts across the West Bank, which goes through the Palestinian town of Huwara and is used by both Palestinians and Israelis.
The shops that line that section of the route cater to both Israelis and Palestinians, some of whom have loyal Israeli customers.
Vehicles wait in line as Israeli troops check cars at a checkpoint near a shooting scene in Huwara in the Israeli-occupied West Bank August 19, 2023. (credit: RANEEN SAWAFTA/REUTERS)What terrorist attacks happened in Huwara?
The two Israelis who were killed there, Silas (Shai) Nigerker, 60, and his son Aviad Nir, 28 from Ashdod had gone there on Saturday to visit friends, stopping for a haircut and a car wash.
A Palestinian terrorist who is still at large, walked up to the father and son at the car wash and shot them to death.
In February, two brothers Hillel Menacham Yaniv, 22, and Yagel Ya’acov Yaniv, 20, were shot to death by a Palestinian terrorist as they drove through the town. In the aftermath of that attack, Jewish extremists and settlers torched homes and burned cars in Huwara. One Palestinian was killed during those clashes.
Transportation Minister Miri Regev blamed the Palestinian attacks against Israelis in Huwara on the absence of a by-pass road.
“To my sorrow, the plan I started for the Huwara by-pass road was halted by the previous government which didn’t want to put funding in Judea and Samaria,” Regev told reporters outside the weekly government meeting.
The moment she returned to the office at the start of this year, Regev said, she made sure that work on that road was resumed.
“You can already see the tractors working there,” she said, adding that she was speeding up the project and hoped to see results within months.
Labor Party leader MK Merav Michaeli, who was the transportation minister in the last government, accused Regev of lying. “Miri Regev is used to lying and blaming others for her failures – so for the sake of clarity let me say clearly: while I did not invest new budgets in Judea and Samaria, the Transportation Ministry under my leadership never blocked the Huwara bypass road.,” she said.
Col. (ret.) Gadi Shamni, former IDF Central Command head, told Radio 103FM that “this bypass road should have been finished a long time ago” and had that occurred, “It would have prevented a lot of friction, but what? A few years ago they transferred it to the Transportation Ministry.
“It’s all politics, no one really cares about security,” he said.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich who made waves in February by calling for Huwara to be wiped off the map, spoke on Saturday night of the need for the IDF to launch an offensive military operation to restore deterrence and security. He was joined in that call by Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan.
Smotrich said that at the same time, Israel must increase settlement construction and the communities of Judea and Samaria.
“Terrorism will never achieve its goal of uprooting us from our country!” he said.
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