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Israeli soldiers patrol in front of a mobile home after Palestinian terrorists attacked the settlement of Karmei Tsur on Saturday, killing three Israelis and injuring five others. (AP)
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| By Ellis Shuman June 9, 2002 |
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Three Israelis were murdered and five others were wounded, when two Palestinian terrorists infiltrated into the Jewish settlement of Karmei Tzur, north of Hebron, early Saturday morning. The terrorist attack was launched against a cluster of mobile homes outside Karmei Tzur's perimeter fence. IDF officers warned that there is almost no way to protect these "pirate" communities.
The victims of the terrorist attack were Staff Sgt. Eyal Sorek, 23; his wife Yael, 24, from Karmei Tzur; and First Sgt. Major Shalom Mordechai, 35, from Nahariya. Yael Sorek was in her ninth month of pregnancy when she was murdered.
The outpost of mobile homes at Karmei Tzur was established without official permission a year and a half ago. The outpost was created to honor the memory of Dr. Shmuel Gillis, a resident of the community who was murdered by Palestinian terrorists last year while returning from the hospital where he worked.
The mobile home outpost is located some 200 meters (220 yards) south of Karmei Tzur, on the last hill overlooking the valley leading to the Palestinian town of Halhoul. The caravans are connected to the settlement's electricity grid and water supply, and a paved road leads to the outpost.
Ministry of Defense officials have held discussions calling for the dismantling of the Karmei Tzur outpost, but they did not lead to results, Maariv reported. Channel Two television news reported that former Prime Minister Ehud Barak clearly saw the outpost when he visited Karmei Tzur early last year, but didn't say anything about its illegal construction.
"Open invitations to terrorist attacks"
"Settlements without fences are open invitations to terrorist attacks," senior IDF officers told Yediot Aharonot. "The next attack is just a matter of time."
Most of the Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) are protected by measures acceptable to the army - fence, electric gate, watchtowers, security emergency teams and soldiers. The problem, Yediot Aharonot reported, is with the dozens of outposts and "pirate" communities in isolated areas, that are unprotected by fences and which allow easy access to terrorists.
IDF sources say that soldiers stationed at the outposts cannot provide 100% protection, in part due to the time required to prepare a response to a terrorist infiltration. "In five minutes, terrorists can perpetrate a horrendous massacre," the sources said. "A fence and additional security measures are the absolute minimum to delay the terrorists and allow the army time to organize a response."
But a security fence is not enough, the sources said. The terrorists who infiltrated into Karmei Tzur were reportedly equipped with wire cutters. "We need to invest in other means, like lighting and movement detectors... We don't have enough funds for all the required defenses."
Settlers at some outposts reportedly have rejected the possibility of fences being built around their illegally established communities. Even so, the army is required to protect all of them, even though it means spreading its forces thin and occasionally stationing inexperienced new recruits at isolated outposts, as was the case in Karmei Tzur.
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