UPDATE 12:01pm Police report that a massive car bomb was found inside a car that was stopped at the Beitar Checkpoint. The car was driving from the direction of Beitar Ilit towards Tzur Hadassah. Border police soldiers at the checkpoint stopped the car because it looked suspicious.

As the car initially stopped, a soldier leaned inside and tried to turn off the engine. The drive began to zoom off, with the soldier stuck in the window.

The soldier drew his pistol, and forced the driver to stop.

Inside the car they found a massive car bomb made from gas canister and explosives.

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10:45am Suspected Security Incident at Beitar Checkpoint (Gush Etzion). Road closed to all traffic in both directions. The Beitar checkpoint is on the main highway, near the town of Beitar Ilit.

10:47am Walla reports that an Arab driver showed up at the checkpoint with multiple gas canisters inside his car. The road was shut down as the IDF inspects the car further.

11:00am According to Reshet Bet, the driver refused to stop at the checkpoint and the IDF blocked the car. The driver resisted arrest, and the IDF found multiple gas canisters inside the car.

Reshet Bet says a terror attack was averted.

At least five Palestinian Authority Arabs were killed on Friday and Saturday in widespread protests and riots throughout Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, where a Jewish resident has been accused of killing one Arab near Shechem.

Unofficial military sources told The Jewish Press that Arabs near Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem, set fire to a guard tower. The soldiers fled for safety, and three of the rioters were killed.

IDF spokesmen said that Arabs opened live fire on soldiers and police in several protests Friday and Saturday, including the riot near Gush Etzion.

Muslim rioters also burned the Jerusalem police station near the Temple Mount in the Old City.

The Fatah movement, headed by Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, joined Hamas on Friday to call for a “Day of Rage” following a 10,000-strong rally and ensuing riot Thursday night form near Ramallah to the Kalandiya crossing in northern Jerusalem.

Friday’s and Saturday’s protests were widespread but did not draw huge numbers. However, the use of live gunfire by protesters on Israeli security forces was rare and reminiscent of the 1990s when Palestinian Authority “police” used rifles given to them by the Israel government to maintain security and instead used them to stage terrorist attacks on Israeli soldiers, police and civilians.

Muslims are celebrating the end of Ramadan, the holy month that ends with a three-day feast concluding on Sunday, and police are on high alert to prevent large-scale riots.

Thousands of leftists Israelis, Arabs and Jews, protested against the IDF’s war on terror Saturday night in Tel Aviv.

An Arab driver swerved into a group of people, mostly women and girls standing at a Gush Etzion Junction (Tzomet HaGush) bus stop.

One woman (20) was injured in the attack, and was taken to Hadassah Ein Karen hospital.

The driver drove off and was captured south of Gush Etzion. The driver claims it was an accident, but after reviewing the footage (below), the police believe it may have been intentional.

The footage was captured by the security camera overlooking the bus stop.

Pikud HaOref asks residents of Gush Etzion: Efrat, Kiryat arba, Beitar Ilit and surrounding communities to get to their bomb shelters within sixty (60) seconds from when the siren goes off next time. Previously residents had a minute and a half to get to safety.

Jerusalem time remains the same.

Pikud Oref says this isn’t an official change at this point. Just a review of the current instructions.

Arabs threw a firebomb at the checkpoint between Beitar and Tzur Hadassah this evening.

An IDF soldier was lightly wounded in the attack.

Israelis heard the news early Monday morning, June 30. The search was over. Yes, the search was over, but the boys were dead.

The response throughout the land was palpable: the air of hope and unity was punctured, replaced by raw anguish.

But by 2:00 the following morning, some Israeli women responded by taking action. Their action was not one of vigilantism, nor was it to raise their fists at the intractable enemy.

Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, the indefatibable Women in Green, along with a group of supporters, went to a lovely little hill just off from the Gush Etzion Junction – the site of such despair – and began clearing the area.

Since July 1, Kassover and Matar have been joined by dozens and dozens of Israelis and of visitors. They are reclaiming a bit of land that has been set aside (the site has long had official approval for tourism development), and are developing it as a functioning and vibrant tourist site.

They also renamed the hill. Previously the site was known as Givat Oz (Hill of Strength). The new name incorporates the initials of the three boys who were kidnapped and murdered – Gilad, Eyal and Naftali – and the acronym created also happens to mean great wisdom. The site is now known as Givat Oz v’Gaon.

Nadia Matar, that steadfast soldier in the war to reclaim the land, spoke with The Jewish Press about the new site.

“This is a Zionist response of the Jewish people to the incomprehensible act of killing our boys,” Matar said. “Our enemies think they will scare us away with their acts of terrorism, but they are wrong. We cling to the land ever more strongly in response to their efforts.”

The area is being cleared by hand. People show up on a daily basis to help move the rocks, clean the lone remaining stone building, and set up picnic tables for meals and chairs for lectures and services.

people came to help clear the land at Givat Oz v’Gaon.

“This will be a camping site,” Matar says. “This past weekend, the first of Givat Oz v’Gaon, we had already 70 or 80 people who brought tents to spend Shabbat here. The residents of the nearby kibbutz Migdal Oz came to join us for seudat shlishit (a meal before evening services) and swelled the crowd to between 200 and 300 people.”

The residents of Migdal Oz came by a road that connects the back of the kibbutz to the Gush Etzion junction. This is also significant, Matar explains, because for quite a long time the kibbutzniks did not use the road as there had been frequent attacks by Arabs from nearby towns.

“Now, with a strong Jewish presence between the kibbutz and the Gush junction, this road is also being ‘reclaimed’ as our response to terrorism,” Matar shared with a sense of satisfaction.

Ruthie Lieberman lives in nearby Alon Shvut. Her home was used by people who participated in the searches for the boys; she and her family lived through it with great intensity.

“The families got up from shiva yesterday,” Lieberman said. “And I found myself on this site today, helping to clear the land, to plant new trees – the ultimate act of positive Zionism.”

Lieberman and her daughter, Merav, planted one of the three trees planted in memory of the three boys.

Ruth Lieberman and her daughter, Merav, plant a tree in Eyal Yifrach’s memory at the new site created to honor the boys, Givat Oz v’Gaon.

The residents of Gush Etzion are uniting to show their resilience in the face of terror with an initiative created in part by Israeli media mind Ari Abramowitz, ‘One Flag.”

Gush Etzion residents are blanketing their loose-knit cluster of communities with Israeli flags to show of solidarity with the families of the three Israeli teens who were kidnapped and murdered there June 12 by Hamas terrorists.

“Rather than calling for hatred and revenge, since the very beginning of this nightmare each of the three bereaved families have been calling for national unity,” Abramowitz explained. “They have unified us, now it is our chance to stand united with them.

Each resident receives a message with their flag: “We, the Gush Etzion family are hanging flags from our windows. We are raising the flag in solidarity with the Sha’ar, Frenkel and Yifrach families who are mourning the murder of their beloved sons. Our nation was united in tears, prayer, and hope for their sons safe return. And now, as we mourn them, they continue to unite us.”

Gush Etzion resident Jeremy Gimpel, the other organizer of the campaign, added that Israelis, especially the youth in Gush Etzion, needed a positive way to harness both the grief of these devastating murders and the feelings of love, empathy, and support they all feel for the victims’ families.

“Jews have always made meaning out of pain and brought light out of the darkness of anti-Semitism and hatred. This united initiative is a truer reflection of the settlers. It’s peaceful, powerful, and regal. By the end of the Shloshim (30 day mourning period), it wouldn’t surprise me if this becomes a national campaign,” he said.

“The irony of this incredible campaign is that we were initially concerned with how the youth were dealing with the trauma of the murder in their neighborhood. As soon as we got the ball rolling, it was pushed forward almost entirely by the youth here who are mobilizing with impressive efficiency to distribute flags throughout their communities,” Abramowitz added.

Yitchak Nesh, a 17 year old activist, also noted, “We thought it was important to launch this campaign here in the Gush, where our friends were abducted. “Our enemies need to understand that while they have succeeded in murdering three innocent boys, they have failed at their greater goal of trying to scare us and weaken us.”

“So many people are confused by the violence and accusations in the media,” explained Mottle Wolfe of Tekoa. “Now is not the time for rifts and divisions, it is the time for healing and unity. That is what this ‘One Flag’ campaign is all about.”

The campaign has also engendered widespread support from the local community leadership and from mayor Davidi Perel, who strongly encouraged the initiative. The region’s “Orly Print,” agreed to print all materials at cost.