Jewish settlers reacted with outrage Wednesday to the killing of an Israeli teen-age girl during a violent encounter in the village of Beita, near Nablus.
Two Arab villagers were killed in the incident and at least 14 other Israelis and several villagers were wounded. One of the Israelis, an armed guard, was reportedly in serious condition at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.
The incident occurred about 1:30 p.m., when a teen-age group of hikers from the settlement of Eilon Morch was attacked by rock-throwing villagers outside Beita. A curfew was imposed on the village, as the army assembled the men in the village, in an effort to trace the attackers.
The group of 16 teen-agers, accompanied by two armed adults, was taking a Passover hike in the Samarian hills around the village, south of Nablus.
As the youths were resting, they were attacked by stones. One of the youths told reporters that the guards chased the attackers. firing at them, and apparently hitting them.
According to a Jewish settlement leader, the Arabs offered to stop the stoning and allow the youths to leave through the village.
But as the group entered the village, it was again attacked by rocks, one of which mortally wounded 15-year-old Tirza Porat. The guards again fired, but they were trapped and their weapons were scized.
Some of the teen-agers were surrounded and beaten. Others fled the village in the direction of the main Jerusalem-Nablus Road. Local villagers brought some of the children to safety. Arab ambulance services were rushed to the scene, apparently at the calls of local residents.
CBS CREW SHOCKED
A passing CBS News television crew followed the ambulances into Beita and was shocked to see the dead, the wounded and three Jewish children wandering around.
“It was the most incredible picture. We just didn’t believe it,” said cameraman Nevil Harris. “The children were left in the village, the ambulances left and no army was around.” The crew drove the children out of the village and called the army, which arrived shortly after and took the rest of the children to safety.
An Israeli boy initially was reported missing and was believed kidnapped. But during a subsequent search, he was found, wounded, in a village house. It was not immediately certain whether he had been kidnapped or had been given shelter in the house.
Jewish settlement leaders held an emergency meeting late Wednesday in Eilon Moreh, only 10 minutes away from the Arab village. Local residents of the settlement, the first established by the ultranationalist Gush Emunim, expressed shock over the confrontation, and demanded that the government respond properly.
Earlier, army Chief of Staff Dan Shomron and Gen. Amram Mitzna, commander of the central region, which includes the West Bank, met with the settlers and faced some tough talk.
Benny Katzover, head of the Samaria regional council, told Shomron: “The ball is in your court now. What is needed is something of such scope that will make it clear to the Arabs that Jews are not to be killed.”
‘IT IS WAR WE ARE FACING’
Other settlers said the army was operating under too many restrictions, and this must be changed. There were calls for deportations of anyone involved in rioting and for permission to shoot in response to stone-throwing.
“Stop calling this action disturbances,” shouted one settler. “It is war we are facing.”
Shomron called the killing of the girl “a disgusting and cruel murder.” He promised the army would react in “a very serious way.” However, he urged the settlers not to do anything themselves and to let the army deal with the situation.
Shoshana Ilan, whose husband and daughter were both wounded in the attack, explained that the children went on an outing near an Arab village at this time, because they live nearby and do not know any other area for hiking.
“My daughter traveled at her home. She didn’t go to other areas. If our children cannot travel in the area where they live, that’s bad,” Ilan said.
She ruled out staying at home at such times, “because we do not want to feel like prisoners.” She said it was the job of the government and the army to assure the local Jewish population to travel freely in the area.
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