Israeli Soldiers Shot and Killed a 72-Year-Old Palestinian Woman

Israeli soldiers on Friday, November 15, continued the recent month-and-a-half clashes by shooting a 72-year-old Palestinian woman who, according to them, ran over several Israeli soldiers with her car. This is the first time during this round of conflict between Israel and Palestinians that an elderly Palestinian woman has been attacked and killed for such an action. The incident occurred in the "Khalil" area of the West Bank. The family of the Palestinian woman claims she had an "accident," but Israeli soldiers stated they found a knife in the search of the "terrorist's" vehicle. Palestinian media report that Ms. "Thurat al-Shahravi" was the widow of a Palestinian man killed during the first Intifada in the late 1980s. On Monday of this week, two young Palestinians attacked an 80-year-old Jewish woman and a 71-year-old Jewish man in the Israeli cities of "Rishon Lezion" and "Netanya," severely injuring them; the injured man is on the verge of death. Thus, the crisis that has persisted for the past month and a half, marked by attacks from young Palestinian teenagers and the killing of Israeli passersby and young soldiers, has now also involved the elderly. On Friday, Israeli soldiers also shot at a young Palestinian female driver in the West Bank who, according to Israel, was also attempting to deliberately run over a group of soldiers in northern Hebron; the girl died in the hospital hours later. On the same day, two Jewish teenagers in the Jewish quarter of Hebron were shot with firearms; it is reported that one of them is "on the verge of death"; Israel suspects a sniper shot at the Jewish teenagers who were on their way to the synagogue for the Saturday night ceremony from the top of a building; a large number of Israeli soldiers have surrounded neighborhoods in Hebron searching for the Palestinian sniper. Additionally, on that day, a 40-year-old Israeli man was injured in a parking lot of a store near Jerusalem by a knife from a young Palestinian; the condition of the Israeli man was also described as "on the verge of death"; the assailant has fled. On Friday, there were extensive clashes along the southern border of Khan Younis in Gaza between Palestinian teenagers and young men and Israeli soldiers, with Palestinians reporting the death of a 23-year-old young man. Other clashes in Hebron and its surroundings also left several injured that day. Hamas had designated Friday as "Day of Rage"; the sixth "Day of Rage" during this crisis. The intensification of the crisis comes at a time when a fragile calm had prevailed in the previous 24 hours, and Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa were held for the third consecutive week without age restrictions. Of the approximately seventy-five Palestinian deaths in the recent period, nearly fifty of them were young attackers who mostly attacked Israelis with knives; they were killed on the spot. Palestinians refer to the dead as "heroes" and "martyrs" and celebrate them. This crisis continues as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on the verge of a trip to Washington, but the White House assessed on Thursday that during the remaining 14 months of Barack Obama's presidency, there is no chance for advancing Israeli-Palestinian political talks. Meanwhile, according to the Jerusalem Post, one-third of Israelis support killing Palestinian attackers at the scene of recent assaults, and nearly 20 percent firmly support the immediate killing of attackers at the scene. Meanwhile, about 42 percent of Jews said they oppose killing a terrorist at the scene if the terrorist has been "neutralized" and poses no further threat; about 27 percent firmly opposed killing attackers at the scene. In some of the recent attacks, when Israeli police arrested the attackers alive, many witnesses clashed violently with the police to "punish" the attackers on the spot; in one case in Be'er Sheva, an Eritrean refugee who was mistakenly identified as a terrorist was killed. Some Israeli ministers had called on the public at the beginning of this security crisis to assist police forces with weapons and take down the attackers. A survey conducted shows that about four percent of Israelis own personal firearms. 57 percent of Israelis said they are very concerned that they or their loved ones may become targets of Palestinian attacks in this dire situation. Concerned Israelis have changed their normal lives. However, 78 percent of Arabs also said they are worried about being easily targeted in the streets; 53 percent of Arabs stated that they have changed their daily routines out of fear of the current situation. Despite this bleak situation, still over half of Jews in this survey said that peace with Palestinians should be resumed; 58 percent of Jews also stated that in the current situation, no Jew should go to the Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa to avoid provoking Palestinians. In this context, Israel shut down a Palestinian radio station, set a "minimum punishment" of three years in prison for stone-throwing by Palestinians, and is seeking an annual $5 billion aid from the U.S. The U.S. State Department criticized statements from Netanyahu's media advisor, and Obama does not see peace between Israel and Palestinians as "possible" during his term.