Israeli security forces today sealed off a passageway from the main street in downtown Hebron to the local casbah following the stabbing yesterday of a Jewish settler from nearby Kiryat Arba. At the same time, a curfew imposed yesterday on the Hebron marketplace continued today as security forces continued to search for the assailants.
Yaacov Reiter, 45, an American immigrant, was attacked by two men as he walked through the marketplace. He was stabbed several times in the back, chest and shoulder. Reiter was rushed to the Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem where his condition was described today as stable.
Leaders of the Jewish community in Hebron met today with Likud ministers and demanded that the Likud should use the latest in a series of recent anti-Jewish incidents in the town to push through in the Cabinet a decision to expand the small Jewish presence in Tel Rumeida, a hill overlooking central Hebron. The settlers argued that ever since the national unity government was formed, there has been no progress in expanding the Jewish settlement.
Less than two weeks ago, on July 30, Albert Buchris, 32, of Afula, was fatally shot at close range while he was walking through the Nablus marketplace. His killer is still at large.
Last week, the Cabinet appointed a seven-minister committee to study tougher penalties and preventive measures against terrorism. A number of steps have been undertaken to cope with Arab terrorism against individual Jews, including administrative detention for up to six months, deportation, and the closing of any Arab newspapers that violate military censorship.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
