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| In the PA-controlled village of Surif this morning, the body of a terrorist gunman is removed by IDF soldiers [Image Source] |
Violent riots erupted in the PA-controlled village of Surif, north of Hebron, early this morning (Wednesday) as a joint IDF, Shin Bet and Israel Police operation trapped the four-person terror cell that murdered Rabbi Michael Mark, the executive director of the Otniel Hesder Yeshiva, on July 1 [link] and seriously injured his wife and children. The victims of that attack were traveling in a car that came under murderous gunfire on Route 60 [“01-Jul-16: The drive-by shooting near Otniel“].
Times of Israel reports that the members of the Hamas-aligned terror cell
opened fire at the Israeli troops from inside the house in which he was hiding, and the IDF responded by firing several anti-tank missiles… The IDF then used a bulldozer to knock down most of the building, and when the troops finally entered the destroyed home they found Fakih dead inside…
One of the cell members, Muhammad al-Fakih, 29, died and three others were taken into custody, unharmed. According to Reuters this morning
Islamist group Hamas identified the man killed in the raid as Mohammad al-Fakih and it said he was a member of its armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades
The Ma’an News Agency version follows the customary template, starting with the title of the piece: “Palestinian accused of Hebron shooting killed after Israeli forces bombard house“:
The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that five Palestinians were shot with rubber-coated bullets during clashes in Surif. [IDF Spokesperson Avichai Edre’i] confirmed that a Palestinian woman sustained minor wounds during the military attack and was taken to a hospital for treatment, adding that a Kalashnikov machine gun and a grenade were found in the house. Locals said Israeli forces detained four Palestinians from Surif during the raid, identified as Ahmad Ibrahim al-Hur, Diyaa Khalid Ghneimat, and Muhammad Ali al-Heeh, the owner of the demolished house in which Faqih was hiding. Al-Heeh’s mother was also detained… Faqih himself was from the village of Dura in southern Hebron. [Ma’an, July 28, 2016]
The Arabic edition of the Ma’an story, again following the customary approach of one version for the Arabic speakers, a specifically different and carefully sanitized one for foreigners, says
The [Israeli] army claimed to find gun-type rifles and grenades next to the martyr… [“Martyrdom of a citizen after bombing and besieging of a home in Surif“, Ma’an Arabic, July 28, 2016]
A martyr al-Fakih assuredly is becoming as we write these lines. Hamas, which de facto controls large swathes of the nominally Fatah/PA towns and villages of the mis-named “Wets Bank”, is active now preparing for a showcase funeral and demonstrations of rage and power, intended not only as a token of how far away peace is, but to show that the PA – with all its foreign aid, its police and its European-supplied limousines for insiders – actually takes a back seat to the Hamas organizers on the ground.
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