What Happened Tuesday Morning?

IDF forces opened fire at an Israeli Arab driver who broke through a checkpoint close to Beitar Illit

From the official IDF website:

On Tuesday morning (Sept. 22), an Israeli Arab was hit by IDF forces that opened fire at him after he broke through a checkpoint close to Beitar Illit, west of Bethlehem, in his vehicle. He approached the checkpoint at high speed and after the soldiers fired warning shots, refused to slow down, threatening the life of the soldiers. After the vehicle broke through the checkpoint, IDF forces followed it. As they tried to stop the driver, he attempted to run them over with his vehicle. The soldiers opened fire at the vehicle and hit the driver. An IDF soldier was lightly injured in the incident.

A Magen David Adom emergency team arrived at the scene and declared the driver dead. The circumstances of the incident are currently being investigated.


The shooting apparently happened right outside the town where Sasha goes to gan - that is, across the street from the entrance to our town. I'm still trying to find out what time the incident happened and whether the driver had anyone else in his vehicle.

I found out about it because when I went to take Sasha to gan, the area at the entrance to the moshav across the way, Mevo Betar, was filled with army, police, etc. A few minutes after I dropped Sasha off, I heard on the radio about what had happened. I am sure that on the radio they said the driver who was shot was known to the security forces for transporting people illegally from the territories into Israel. But this does not appear in the official army reports.

The reason the hour that it happened is important to me and whether there were other people in the vehicle is because I think it likely this man was transporting or known for transporting illegal workers. The checkpoint he broke through is not a passage checkpoint for Palestinians. The checkpoint, which I drive through twice a day every work day, goes from my part of inside green line Israel into the West Bank. Immediately on the other side of the checkpoint are a small Arab town, Wadi Fukin, a large Arab town, Husan (60K residents) and an ultra Orthodox Jewish settlement, Beitar Illit (30K residents, median age is 11).

Because the checkpoint is not a passage checkpoint, Palestinian residents of Wadi Fukin, Husan and other towns are not allowed to cross westwards into Israel even if they have valid work permits to work in Israel. A Palestinian from Wadi Fukin who wants to build houses in Tzur Hadassah or Nes Harim nearby us would according to law have to travel into Jerusalem through the tunnel road checkpoint (east and then north) and then back around out of Jerusalem to the towns 5-10 minutes from his home. The journey would take him 1-2 hours, depending on how long he waited at the tunnel checkpoint.

Because of this, the area around my house has a constant flow of workers crossing illegally into the green line. The soldiers can never stay ahead of the traffic, much of which is on foot.

When Haaretz posted this story Tuesday night, they framed it as happening close to Beitar Illit and talked about the expansion of Beitar Illit and the context of Obama's demand to stop building in the settlements. It seems to me an equally or more crucial issue for my Palestinian neighbors is their freedom of movement and ability to earn a living. Mr. Prime Minister Netanyahu, if you care about economic peace as you say you do, please give my neighbors a legal way to get to the jobs that are awaiting them in my town and the surrounding towns. Mr. President Obama and Mr. Senator George Mitchell, don't let one issue - settlement expansion - blind you to the other important issues such as freedom and ease of movement. Readers, if you know anyone who works for these important guys, pass on this link!

P.S. Before the intifada in 2000, there were 120,000 workers from the West Bank and Gaza working inside Israel supporting 1 million family members. At the height of the intifada in 2002, 120,000 had dropped to 10,000. Readers, if you have current statistics or know where to find them, let me know.