Settler leaders call for government action after string of terror attacks
Settlement leaders from Beit El, Samaria and Binyamin announced a general strike set for Friday in response to ongoing terror attacks in the West Bank.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF, TOVAH LAZAROFFUpdated: DECEMBER 13, 2018 17:44Kerem Shalom Crossing blocked by settlers during Thursday protest supporting residents of the south(photo credit: AVIV HERTZ/ TPS)
Settler leaders throughout Judea and Samaria are calling on the government to take immediate action to stop terror.Speaking Wednesday afternoon at the site of the terror attack, Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, said the government is failing to protect its citizens.“We are done agreeing to let our residents be killed,” Dagan said. “We have a responsibility for the life of our residents and the lives of the citizens of Israel. And we are done being silent.”Locals respond to the Givat Assaf terror attack that left two soldiers dead, December 13, 2018 (Tovah Lazaroff)The Yesha council of Israeli settler leaders held a meeting Thursday at the site of the deadly shooting attack near the Givat Assaf settlement.Dagan said that residents of the Binyamin Regional Council, The Beit El Regional Council and the Samarian Regional Council will hold a protest in Jerusalem Thursday at 7 p.m.“We invite others to come and take part,” he said.Israel Gantz, head of the Binyamin regional council said that the regional councils and schools in these communities will also go on strike Friday in protest of the ongoing terror attacks."Route 60 had been closed to Palestinians in the past and since the road has been opened there has been nothing but terror," Gantz said.Then, on Sunday, the councils will go on strike, including closing schools, to go to Jerusalem and “tell the Prime Minister, ‘Enough! Enough with the murders, enough with the spilled blood.”Yesha Council security head Shlomo Vaknin said, “The situation on the roads is not getting better.
“We understand that we are no longer talking about something sporadic, but a series of attacks. Some might even call it even a wave of terror. The fact is this: We are failing at stopping the terrorists before they attack. We are asking the prime minister to put barriers anywhere they can go and to increase IDF presence in the area. Then, maybe we can stop these attacks.”Beit El regional council head, Shay Alon also called on the Israeli government to stop their policy on open roads to Palestinians."We cannot endure fatal weekly shootings on our roads. We must close the roads to the Palestinians immediately. We will fight for this with all of our might," Alon said."I call on our political leaders to do stop everything and rethink the policy on open roads to Palestinian residents," Alon added in a statement released on Thursday."Any terror attack will not cause us to leave the settlements, we will continue to live in Beit El, Metula and on the Gaza border - everywhere," he added. "Terror will not move us a millimeter from this land, we will continue to grow our roots here."In a letter, MK Uri Ariel also called on the prime minister to take immediate actions against the Palestinians, to restore the checkpoints throughout Judea and Samaria, to immediately demolish homes and expel terrorists living in the West Bank. He demanded that the security cabinet convene by Sunday and find quick solutions to restore security to residents of Judea and Samaria.
