Just Another Typical Week of Palestinian Terrorism Around Efrat

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UPDATES 7 pm Israel time Friday:

*Israel continues to build up its defensive capacity on the Syrian and Lebanese borders with more troops, armament, and Iron Dome batteries moved north. Syrian Army officials have spent much of the day blustering about what will happen if Israel carries out another attack on Syrian soil, but the fact remains that no one really knows the facts of what, if any, Israeli strike took place.

*It has been another violent day in the neighborhood with thousands of protesters marching in the streets of Egypt against President Morsi, six Lebanese Army soldiers killed in an incident in the Hezbollah-controlled Bekaa Valley, and a Turkish suicide bomber blowing himself up at the entrance to the U.S. embassy in Ankara killing himself and a Turkish guard.

*A colonel in the Free Syrian Army said in an interview today that in the last 15 months his forces have killed more than 1,800 Iranian soldiers and more than 1,000 Hezbollah fighters. 

TODAY’S BLOG:

Your humble servant doesn’t think that anyone outside of Judea and Samaria realizes the extent of the terrorism taking place there.

Efrat is the red spot on the map just south of Beitar Illit--on the road between Jerusalem and Hebron.

Today’s blog focuses briefly on Efrat, a small Jewish community of 6.28 km2 and about 8,500 residents located 11 miles south of Jerusalem in Judea. It is considered part of the Gush Etzion “bloc”.  Most of Efrat’s residents are religious Zionists, and there are twenty synagogues in the community. The community is divided into seven neighborhoods, each named after one of the seven “species”: Rimon (pomegranate), Te’ena (fig), Gefen (grape), Dekel (palm), Zayit (olive), Tamar (date), and Dagan (grain).

Part of the Zayit (Olive) neighborhood of Efrat (photo: Haaretz).

Here’s a recap of what happened last week–again, just in the small area around Efrat:

• There were 39 separate Palestinian “rock” throwing attacks against residents–many of which were directed against Efrat motorists (28 cars were damaged).

• There were 6 separate cases of Palestinian Molotov cocktails being thrown–three were thrown at IDF troops guarding Efrat and three at Jewish community members.

• There were 7 separate Palestinian IEDs which were neutralized by IDF sappers.

• There were 2 security personnel wounded in Palestinian terrorist attacks.

• There were 2 burning tires that were placed on roads into Efrat by Palestinian terrorists.

Fortunately, the week passed with no physical injuries incurred by any “non-security” residents of Efrat, but as your humble servant often asks: Who knows the extent of emotional distress that was inflicted on Efrat’s citizens? Previous studies have shown that as many as 20% of Efrat men, women, and children suffer from PTSD.

Ho hum . . . it was just another week of Palestinian terrorist violence against one small community in Israel–Palestinian terrorism that no one ever hears or reads about . . .

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