Now it can be revealed that a collaboration of Shabak, the IDF and Israel Police has exposed over the past few weeks a Hamas terror infrastructure that, among other things, carried out the Highway 60 murder of Rabbi Michael Mark Z”L and injured his family members on July 1, 2016 near the community of Otniel in Judea and Samaria. An overnight raid Tuesday that followed a lengthy manhunt resulted in the killing of the Mark murder perpetrator Mohammed Fakieh.

The arrest raid in the village of Tzurif near Hebron picked up Mohammed Ah Magid Amaira, who carried out the attack with Fakieh, and several other cell members, including several relatives, who provided support to the cell, including giving Fakieh et al shelter during the manhunt.

The driver of the terror cell who drove the car in the attack is a Palestinian Authority policeman.

The raid of the safe house where Fakieh was hiding was carried out by the IDF Etzion Division, as well as Shabak and Police. The terrorist opened fire on the force as it drew near, and in response the force shot several anti-tank rockets at the structure where he was hiding, then demolished the house using heavy machinery and killed the terrorist. They found a Kalashnikov sub-machine gun and an improvised grenade near the body.

An Arab woman who was injured during the raid was evacuated to hospital.

During the raid, a high power line near Tzurif was damaged which supplies electricity to the Gush Etzion area, and specifically to the regional water pumps. As a result, the Gush Etzion and Efrat water tanks are low, and residents have been asked to minimize their use of water until the electric company can fix the line.

An Israeli woman’s car was shot at in eastern Gush Etzion, on the road between Tekoa and Har Homa, according to a TPS report.

The woman wasn’t injured, but a bullet hole was found on the car.

This is the third shooting attack on that road in the past few weeks.

Last Thursday most of the Land of Israel Network staff met at the organization’s future headquarters in the community of Ibei HaNahal, Gush Etzion. Josh used the opportunity high atop the Judean mountains with views of Biblical proportions to interview the network’s hosts on their hopes for the future of the network, but also their hopes for the future of the Land of Israel and the Jewish People. Tune in to listen to this rare personal look at some of these young leaders at the forefront of transmitting the true story of Israel to the world.

A group of “former” Arab terrorists and their leftwing Israeli enablers held a protest in Gush Etzion on Friday, between Beitar and Efrat.

They shut down Highway 60, the main highway between Jerusalem and Gush Etzion. They held up signs with ridiculous statements on them, such as “The wall is violent”.

While my regular readers know that I am not a fan of the security wall or of Iron Dome, as these are defensive measures we use instead of fighting to win, there’s no question that the psychological shock the Jihadists and their supporters felt when the security fences and walls went up, forced them to reevaluate the “success” of their suicide bombing campaign and ability to continue them.

Almost immediately the Israeli Left and the Arabs began fighting the wall, always leaving out of their narrative the fact that the Arab terrorists were the ones responsible for it having to go up in the first place.

The group who blocked Highway 60 in Gush Etzion describe themselves as having “actively participated in the cycle of violence”, which in plain English means, the Arabs in their group were active terrorists who tried to, and perhaps succeeded in hurting and killing Jews.

In fact, it may very well be that included in this group protesting the security wall are failed suicide bombers and the people that sent them.

Of course people like that would consider the wall “violent”, as perhaps more than anything it affected their ability to kill lots of Jews, and it heavily reduced the active Arab support for their acts of terrorism.

It’s an obvious question to ask, are these “former” terrorists still supporting terror? Is “peace” simply a new tactic for their same nefarious goals?

We could talk about their one-track, mostly one-sided message, and how they don’t block the roads to Yata and Dura in colorful protest of the serial Arab terror emanating from those villages.

They explain away their one-sided protests and imbalanced messages citing the “occupation”. Their catchall word for excusing everything.

But to me, the real warning sign is how “former” terrorists, whose plans were thwarted by the security wall, are now calling to tear down one of Israel’s primary passive deterrents against suicide bombers and Arab terrorism – right in the midst of a new wave of terrorism.

I think they’ve answered the question.

MDA emergency services received a report of two people stabbed near El Arub on Highway 60 at 1:16 PM on Monday. El Aroub is located in Gush Etzion just south of Tzomet HaGush.

An IDF soldier was stabbed in his head. A second soldier was stabbed in the hand.

Both are conscious and are listed as lightly wounded. The terrorist stabbed them with a knife and a screwdriver.

The soldiers are being transported to the hospital.

The terrorist is seriously wounded.

Traffic between Tzomet HaGush and Karmei Tzur has been closed for the moment.

On Sunday afternoon residents of the communities of Eastern Gush Etzion along with members from Women in Green met at the ‘T’ intersection east of the Gush Etzion cluster, between Mezad and Ma’ale Amos on one side and Tekoa and Nokdim on the other, for a vigil following the shooting by Arab terrorists at a resident’s car the night before.

The organizers of the protest, Women in Green’s Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, together with Michael Luria of the Pnei Kedem community, noted that last night’s shooting incident ended miraculously, since only the driver’s leg was injured when terrorists shot at his car, while his wife and their six children, including a one-week-old infant, were also in the vehicle.

Deputy Head of the Gush Etzion Council Moshe Savil called for an end to the policy of “containing” terror incidents and for the implementation of full security for the residents of the area in all of the main roads.

Brigade commander of the area, Col. (Res.) Roman Gofman, also came to the site and heard from representatives of Women in Green that it was exactly in that place, about two years ago, there had been a protest vigil for several weeks, which ended after protesters were promised cellular reception in the area to assure the security forces’ quick and effective response, a regular transport station and a manned pillbox, all of which were supposed to offer a message of security to travelers in the area.

The protesters complained to the brigade commander that since that promise was made, there has been no actual change. There still is no cellular reception, a transportation station has not been set up and there is no pillbox. Their demand, they explained to the brigade commander, is now even sharper and more emphatic because of the recurring terror attacks in the area and in the traffic routes around the intersection.

With a stirring ceremony in the presence of family members of the abducted three youths taken by Hamas murderers in July 2014, the Head of Gush Etzion Council Davidi Perl and thousands of local residents celebrated their memory at the Oz v’Gaon Nature Preserve on the hill above Gush Etzion Junction in Judea. The nature preserve was established in the memory of the three youths.

The event, conducted by Women in Green, which launched the preserve project and has been running it as a site for education, tourism and camping, was opened by Yehudit Katsover, one of the heads of the movement, with the story of how the decision was made to go up to the preserve on the very night in which the bodies of the abducted youths were found. Katsover told the audience that this is the way of Zionism: development and growth emerge out of pain. But she added that “it could also be otherwise; we could and should cut off the enemy’s hope by applying Israeli sovereignty” in Area C of Judea and Samaria (to start, at least).

Oz v’Gaon

“Without the backing of the people, the parents, the council, the IDF and the various other bodies this would not have succeeded, and this is why we came to say Thank you,” said Nadia Matar, Katsover’s partner in leading the movement. Matar listed the activists and donors who contributed to the event as well as to the two-year-old nature preserve.

Katsover gave the family members of the youths a memento, symbolizing the preserve – a small JNF bench with a dedication.

Uri Yifrach, father of Eyal, Hy”d, read aloud words that Eyal wrote just a few days before he was abducted and murdered, in which he related to the value of having difficulties and pain on the way to achieving a goal. “The path is the value, and without the path, you will not arrive at the destination,” Eyal wrote. “We would be glad to do without the path, and get to the goal, but God put us on the path. We must understand that if the path takes time, this is the will of God. The path will exact casualties, it is difficult and grueling but it takes us closer to the goal. Every step on the path creates life, and when you are on the path, give it your all, take advantage of every moment of your life as if it were your last.”

Bat Galim Shaer, mother of Gil-Ad, spoke of the poem “My life is in your blood” that was heard at the event, and “became for us a daily reality, from the pain and bereavement we strive to grow towards life and activity, and Yehudit and Nadia are examples for us.”

She went on, emphasizing the uniqueness of Oz v’Gaon as a place of daily and continued activity and not a one-time memory or event, “a living, growing and breathing place every single day.”

Oz v’Gaon

Raheli Frenkel, mother of Naftali, Hy”d, drew a parallel with the murder of Hallel Ariel, Hy”d, on Thursday in Kiryat Arba. “We woke up in the morning and the only thing we wanted to do was to embrace the Ariel family and the memory of Hallel, our lost princess. I heard Rina cry, ‘My life is in your blood,’ and this morning became a song in praise of life for those who choose to live here, of the joy that fills this place with energy, with wonderful youth and with visitors who come from all over the world.”

Frenkel expressed the hope that the Jewish youths of the area and throughout Israel will continue to stream to the preserve, to be joyful and complete the dreams for summer vacation that Hallel Ariel, Hy”d, had, dreams that were not fulfilled.

Davidi Perl drew a connection between the weekly Torah portion of Korah, and the growth and renewal that are apparent to all those who come to the preserve. Perl mentioned the saying about the prophet Samuel, who was a descendant of Korah’s offspring who did not die. “From the pit arose the flowering of prophecy, renewal and the prayer of [Samuel’s mother] Hanna,” he said.

Oz v’Gaon

“Two years ago, a deep chasm opened with the murder of the three youths and we all fell together into the abyss,” Perl said, adding that “with the spirit of Oz v’Gaon this place was born anew. A call went out from here for a renewal of growth, a flowering of life with great depth on the crossroads between Jerusalem and Hebron. In the place that symbolizes this connection we have put down deep roots, two years of yearning and challenges in which we have lost other victims, two years in which the junction became a symbol of heroism and determination, of the people saying that we will stand for our rights and for our demand for full sovereignty over all of the Land of Israel, as our right and not as a gift of kindness.”

The event concluded with a walk to the observation point overlooking Gush Etzion Junction, which had undergone renovation and new artistic decoration in recent weeks. In the presence of the Head of the Local Council, the recently improved path connecting the junction to the nature preserve was dedicated. After words of blessing and thanks, the ribbon at the path was cut and hundreds of blue balloons were released into the air.