Shin Bet taking over Dolev terror investigation as IDF ground search proves fruitless

The Shin Bet is taking the reins in the investigation for suspects in the terror attack in Dolev that killed Danny Gonen on Friday.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN, BEN HARTMAN
Updated: JUNE 22, 2015 08:18
Terror attack by a junction in an area close to the settlement of Dolev in the West Bank. (photo credit: YOSEF YOGEV)
Terror attack by a junction in an area close to the settlement of Dolev in the West Bank.
(photo credit: YOSEF YOGEV)
The IDF ended localized searches and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) took the lead in the investigation on Sunday into a terrorist shooting that killed a 25-year-old Lod man in the West Bank on Friday.
The searchers concentrated over the weekend near the Palestinian villages around the settlement of Dolev, west of Ramallah. They failed to arrest any suspects, and by Saturday evening, the army closed down the operation.
Meanwhile on Sunday night, Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel said the spring near where a Danny Gonen was gunned down will be renamed in his memory.
The Ein Bibon spring will from now on be called “Ein Danny,” Ariel said, speaking at Gonen’s funeral in Lod.
“His murderers did not want to see the very few hikers who made their way there, and from now on they will see thousands of Jews visiting,” Ariel said, adding that Israel is obligated to carry on Dani’s legacy of social work as well as construction in the West Bank.
Gonen, an electrical engineering student and a former student at a yeshiva in Ma’aleh Adumim, was shot dead on Friday afternoon near Dolev, after he and a friend had arrived at a the spring to go swimming. They decided to leave the spot after a friend told them there were Palestinians at the spring. As they drove toward the Parsa junction, a Palestinian on the side of the road flagged down their vehicle, an IDF source said. After starting a short conversation to see if the two men were Jews, the man pulled out a 9 mm pistol and shot Danny and his friend multiple times.
Late on Saturday night, Gonen was buried in his hometown of Lod, surrounded by more than a thousand mourners. His mother, Dvora, said of him, “Dani, my beloved, dear son. It’s unbelievable that we are standing here and speaking of you in past tense. You were a source of great pride for me, a rock for your brother and sister.”
Gonen’s sister Ruti said of her family that “we don’t see a way to go on without you Danny” and described her brother as a man of “grace and integrity.”
Lod Mayor Yair Revivo attended the funeral. He called this past Sabbath “a dark Shabbat for all of the people of Israel and the city of Lod.”
Revivo called for Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) to tighten security restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank, which have been eased significantly for Ramadan, which began on Thursday evening.