Hundreds of Palestinian Authority Arabs rioted in Hevron and elsewhere around the country as the shrouded body of a dead Hamas terrorist was carried through the city in an afternoon funeral.
Since the death of 64-year-old Maissara Abu Hamdiyeh earlier this week, Arab leaders have ordered their followers into official mourning for the prison inmate. The “mourning” has apparently included a license to commit acts of terror and attacks on Israeli security personnel as well.
Arabs hurled rocks at IDF soldiers present at the scene in Hevron to maintain order and protect Jewish residents and others in the city from the violence.
A few minutes north of Jerusalem, a police car was targeted in a road terror attack by Arabs hurling rocks at the Adam junction. One police officer sustained minor injuries. Security forces fanned out to search for the perpetrators.
South of Jerusalem, near the PA Arab village of El Aroub about 15 minutes north of Hevron and about five minutes south of Gush Etzion, dozens of Arabs also hurled rocks as they rioted in solidarity over Hamdiyeh’s death.
No injuries have been reported, and IDF personnel are using crowd dispersal measures to clear rioters from the area both in El Aroub and in Hevron.
Hamdiyeh was serving a life sentence after being convicted on murder charges for his role in a 2002 bombing of a café in the German Colony neighborhood in Jerusalem.
The body of Hamdiyeh was examined in an official autopsy at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute to verify he had in fact died of throat cancer rather than by foul play as claimed by PA leaders.
But the facts were useless as PA officials ignored the report, instead closing schools and whipping its population into a frenzy of hatred.
That same day, the riots began, with violence spreading throughout Judea and Samaria. By Tuesday night, Arabs in Jerusalem attacked police and other security personnel who were trying to restore order near the Damascus Gate to the Old City.
The riots continued into Wednesday, with construction workers picking up the pace and adding their efforts to fuel the fires.
In general, Arab violence has escalated over the past several months, with analysts increasingly raising the question of whether in fact the Palestinian Authority is quietly launching a third intifada in the regions, despite protestations of its leadership to the contrary.
Two PA teens were killed Wednesday when a group of Arabs launched a firebomb attack on an IDF post in Samaria (Shomron). A third teen sustained a hand wound, according to a medic at a hospital in Tulkarem. IDF soldiers from the Netzach Yehudah Brigade opened fire at the attackers in response.
