Delaware Gazette · Delaware, Ohio · 12 December 1996

CP-1996-005

Killings don’t deter Netanyahu

Israeli woman, son slain in drive-by shooting

Associated Press, Beit El, West Bank

Scan 1202 × 1054 pixels

Transcribed from the clipping

“BEIT EL, West Bank — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Jewish settlers today as ‘heroes’ and promised to strengthen settlements in the West Bank after a woman and her 12-year-old son were killed in a drive-by shooting.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a radical Palestinian group opposed to the Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements, claimed responsibility for the shootings and linked them to Israel’s settlement policies.

Eeta Tzur, 42, and her son Efraim were killed Wednesday evening when gunmen sprayed bullets at their car near the Jewish settlement of Beit El, then sped into the Palestinian-controlled town of Ramallah. ‘The roots of the Jewish people are rooted in the land of Beit El,’ Netanyahu, his voice shaking with emotion, said at their funeral today.

‘These roots not only will not be uprooted, they will be deepened.’ ‘Our answer to these murderers … is that we are staying here,’ he said. ‘We are building here. We live here. You will not uproot us from here.’ Netanyahu also demanded the Palestinians help catch the gunmen.

Israeli troops clamped a closure on Ramallah, barring anyone from leaving or entering… Palestinian sources said Palestinian police arrested seven PFLP activists in Ramallah today. Israel’s Army radio said 15 activists were arrested. Thousands of people attended the Tzurs’ funeral in Beit El.

Netanyahu praised them as ‘pioneers, heroes of our time.’ He denounced the ‘campaign of slander’ against settlers in Israel and abroad, and said: ‘It is time to say that there is no one better than them.’ Tzur’s husband, Yoel, and four of their children were injured in the shooting.

Yoel Tzur, one of the founders of the Beit El settlement, told Israel radio the family was attacked as they returned home from visiting relatives. Tzur said he saw a car turn around and a man take out a Kalashnikov rifle and start firing. Tzur then waved down a passing Palestinian who drove him to get help.

Tzur blamed the shooting on the ‘stupid autonomy accord’ with the Palestinians and urged Netanyahu to respond to every attack by expanding Jewish settlements.

Arafat did not respond to reporters’ questions today on the slaying, but his Palestinian Authority condemned the attack, saying it will ‘give the Israeli government a pretext to delay the implementation of the peace process.’”

Context added by this archive

An Israeli mother and her twelve-year-old son killed, named and mourned at length. The same column records that the wounded father was driven to get help by a Palestinian who stopped for him.

Cite this clipping

This clipping is read closely in the section below

• One man, and the position he never changed

More from the 1990s

• Israel rejects blanket damagesSan Francisco Examiner · 3 January 1996
• Disabled Palestinians Sue Israelis for InjuriesOmaha World-Herald · 3 January 1996
• Israel Eldad, 86, a Top Leader In Palestine Jewish UndergroundThe New York Times · 23 January 1996
• Arrest Puts Israel Arabs Under CloudThe New York Times · 7 March 1996
• Runner on first Palestinian Olympic squadIndex-Journal · 7 April 1996
• Roadblocks blamed in baby’s deathTucson Citizen · 9 April 1996
• All 374 clippings from the 1990s →