Bomb Attack Kills Jewish Woman As Wave of Unrest Alarms Israel

Israel in recent days has rehearsed, the hard way, a lesson it has learned time and again in the past – that no matter the political developments, it must live with terrorism.

In the long history of terrorist attacks, the last week has been especially painful. Over the weekend, a woman was killed in the West Bank, just east of the pre-1967 line, in a roadside bomb explosion that wounded nine others.

And last week, a moshav member in northern Israel was brutally stabbed to death in an incident that led the government to promise outraged farmers greater protection.

The bomb attack killed Yehudit Ostern, 57, who was returning home to the settlement of Matityahu, east of Lod, after a visit to her daughter at the nearby settlement of Dolev.

The van in which she was traveling struck a cable on the road between Matityahu and the Arab village of Harbat, triggering an explosive charge planted 10 yards up the road.

Most of the passengers managed to jump out of the burning van, but Ostern, a heavy woman, was unable to move quickly enough and burned to death.

Her husband, Moshe, 61, said everyone jumped from the burning car fearful that terrorists were still in the vicinity. “I wish I was burned with her,” he said of Yehudit. My dear wife was burned before my eyes, and I could not help her.”

Two other passengers suffered facial and hand burns, three sustained smoke injuries and three others slight injuries. Six of the injured were new immigrants taken by the Osterns “to see the pioneers of Israel” by visiting their daughter Micky Degani at Dolev, in the Judean Hills. The terrorist attack near Matityahu was particularly alarming for several reasons:

* The terrorists demonstrated technical sophistication in Lebanon-style sabotage by successfully deploying a roadside bomb with a trip wire.

* The attack took place close to the Green Line, near the newly populated towns of Modi1in and Refut, virtually in the backyard of Ben-Gurion Airport. Arab terrorism has suddenly come much closer to home for many Israelis.

* The attack took place even though a hunger strike mounted by jailed Palestinians, which had been the immediate cause of the latest wave of violence, had ended, following an agreement reached between the authorities and the prisoners. This suggests that the intifada has picked up momentum, regardless of external developments.

The attack also appears to reflect the determination of terrorist organization to escalate the intifada, on the eve of the new round of peace talks in Washington, thereby presenting Israel with a serious dilemma: Even if an agreement is reached with the Palestinian negotiators, will it be honored by the Palestinians in the street?

Even as the security forces were staging a massive search for the attackers, an atmosphere of near-explosion prevailed in the northern Tafanach region, near Afula, where farmers were up in arms following the brutal murder of Shimon Avraham, 33, of Moshav Meitav, who was stabbed to death Oct. 15 while working in the fields.

Many of the Jewish farmers demanded revenge and tougher security measures, such as a security fence along the Green Line and greater control over Arab workers entering the area from the West Bank.

Dozens of Jewish extremists spent much of the weekend burning fields of the neighboring Arab villages, throwing stones at cars owned by residents of the territories and gathering outside the Afula police station to demand tougher measures to increase security in the area.

Agriculture Minister Ya’acov Tsur visited the Ta’anach region Sunday and paid a condolence call on the bereaved family. He said the security situation in the area was tied to employment arrangements. Had more Jewish workers been employed, he said, it was doubtful that the murderers of Avraham would have succeeded.

But local farmers said they could not give up the service of Arab workers altogether. Jewish workers – even those who have been unemployed – refuse to work in the fields for the pay they receive from Jewish farmers.

The demands of the Ta’anach farmers were partially met Sunday, as Police Minister Moshe Shahal convened a special meeting of officials of all security branches in his office in Jerusalem.

It was decided to beef up the police presence in the Tafanach region and exercise tighter control over the area between that region and the West Bank town of Jenin. It was also decided to push forward with the planned recruitment of 400 new police officers.

This latest round of violence also increased unrest among Jewish settlers in the administered territories. Senior rabbis of the Jewish community in the territories scheduled an emergency meeting for Monday night to discuss the deteriorating security situation. Some of the rabbis demanded a massive public campaign for tougher security.

A committee of the rabbis issued a statement blaming Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who also serves as defense minister, for the deterioration “caused by his indifference.

Gush Emunim, the religious settlers group in the West Bank, called on the government to resign and call new elections “due to the loss of control over events.”