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April 16, 2003
Soldier, 2 civilians killed in attacks
By Margot Dudkevitch, Herb Keinon, David Rudge contributed to this report
Three Israelis were killed in two incidents in the territories on Tuesday.
Zachar Hanukayev, 38, of Sderot, and Ahmed Qara, 20, of Shuafat in Jerusalem, were killed and three wounded when a terrorist
infiltrated the Karni border crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, threw grenades and shot at workers and drivers before he was
killed by security guards.
Earlier, Canadian-born Lt. Daniel Mandel, 24, of Alon Shvut, was killed and another soldier moderately wounded during an
operation to arrest Hamas and Tanzim fugitives in Nablus.
Meanwhile, security measures are being increased over Pessah amid warnings of planned attacks by terrorist organizations.
Thousands of police and border police, as well as Civil Guard and other volunteers, will be on duty over the holiday. Patrols are to
be beefed-up along the Green Line, and security measures will also be heightened outside synagogues and other crowded places.
A general closure imposed by the army on the West Bank, Jordan Valley, and Gaza Strip went into effect early this morning. A
naval blockade was also imposed along the Gaza coast. The IDF Spokesman said access will be given to Palestinians in need of
humanitarian assistance, and that there was no stipulation regarding the length of time the closure will remain in effect.
Senior police sources noted that they have not received any specific alert about pending attacks, but that there are dozens of
general warnings.
In the Karni attack, Hanukayev, a forklift operator, and Qara, a truck driver bringing medication for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,
were killed. The wounded were taken to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba.
Hamas claimed responsibility and identified the perpetrator as Muhammad Yunis, 18, of Jabalya, and claimed he was avenging the
IAF targeting of Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip a week ago.
Security officials, meanwhile, are studying the footage on the closed circuit cameras posted in the terminal in an attempt to
determine how an armed Yunis entered the Israeli side of the complex without being detected by the security guards.
Terminal director Yoni Dotan said officials are also investigating whether Yunis received assistance from the Palestinian workers
in the terminal.
'I cannot understand why the Palestinian Preventive Security Service officials failed to apprehend him,' he said.
The terminal was shut down after the attack and will remain closed at least until the end of the week pending a government
decision, officials said. 'The people who will suffer because of the attack are the Palestinians who are not involved in terror,'
officials said.
The terminal, set up after the Oslo Accords, is used as a crossing point for Palestinian workers from the Gaza Strip and to
transfer goods as well as Palestinian agricultural produce destined for local and overseas markets.
Lt.-Col. Adi Ashkenazi head of the economic desk at the Gaza district liaison office described the terminal crossing as the 'main
lifeline for the Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, a symbol of goodwill and Israeli investment. The terminal is a modern,
mechanized and smooth-running operation aimed at serving the Palestinian people.'
Close to noon, Yunis entered the crossing, passed through the workers' area and security posts set up to check trucks entering and
leaving, and entered the Israeli side of the terminal where he threw grenades and shot at workers and drivers. With the first blast
of fire he wounded three Israelis and then continued on his rampage, killing Hanukayev and Qara.
Terminal deputy-director Rami Hadad praised the security guards, saying their rapid response averted a greater tragedy.
Contracter Rami Sabati said he was on the Palestinian side of the terminal when he spotted Yunis, whom he said acted strangely.
'I saw this Palestinian worker who wore a sort of flak jacket and kept his hands close to his sides, it was strange. Seconds later I
heard explosions and gunfire,' he said. 'I don't understand. We come here to transfer merchandise to the Palestinians and that is
the thanks we get.'
In the Nablus incident, a Nahal Brigade reconnaissance unit approached a building where the fugitives were known to be hiding
and surrounded it, calling on the occupants to surrender. The five-story building houses students at the nearby An-Najah
University.
Two of the fugitives, Nahal Sahal of Hamas and Wadai Tikrouri of Tanzim, surrendered. A third, Mazan Farihat, walked out of
the house and then began shooting, fatally wounding Mandel, and hitting a second soldier.
The soldiers returned fire, and Farihat fled back into the building, where his body was later found by troops.
The wounded soldier was taken to the Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba, where his condition was upgraded from serious to satisfactory
after surgery. A third soldier, Aharon Kiv, was lightly wounded but did not require hospitalization. He later insisted on attending
Mandel's funeral, telling reporters he was the best commander he ever had.
According to IDF officials, Farihat was in charge of the Tanzim infrastructure in the Nablus area and was involved in the double
suicide bomb attack on Rehov Naveh Sha'anan in Tel Aviv in January in which 23 people were killed and 106 wounded and the
suicide attack in Jerusalem's French Hill in June 2002 in which seven people were killed and 37 wounded.
Sahal was involved in the plotting of numerous attacks, and Tikrouri is considered an expert bomb maker.
Elsewhere in Nablus and the adjacent Balata refugee camp, soldiers arrested Kamil Said Abu Gneish, 28, the military commander
of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the area.
According to officials, Gneish was directly involved in numerous suicide attacks, including the terrorist infiltration into the Golani
training base at Bekaot in the north Jordan Valley last week in which two soldiers were killed and eight wounded.
Meanwhile, police announced they had uncovered a smuggling ring that had been operating for the past two years and was
involved in bringing thousands of bullets and weapons from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip. Police said that, in coordination
with the Shin Bet and IDF, eight Palestinians were arrested in the Ramallah area, some of whom were former residents of the
Gaza Strip.
A lead came several months ago when security forces apprehended a truck at the entrance to the Gaza Strip that contained tens of
thousands of bullets. The driver was arrested.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom responded to the Karni attack saying it indicates the Palestinian leadership has still not changed
its thinking, or altered its actions, regarding terror.
Referring to Palestinian Authority prime minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas, Shalom said that although he has not yet formed a
government, his message to the terror organizations has to be a clear one - 'that they will fight them [the terror organizations], and
not allow them to carry out these same types of actions.'
'We expect action,' Shalom said, 'and I hope that this is done so we can get to what all of us want - to check out the possibility of
peace. But on a day like today, there is no doubt this possibility becomes more distant.'
Shalom said Israel will not tolerate a situation where it will suffer terror attacks by day, and sit and negotiate with Palestinian representatives by night. 'That won't be,' Shalom said.
Canadian-born IDF officer laid to rest
By TOVAH LAZAROFF
’I guess your luck wasn’t with you today,’ said the mother of Lt. Daniel Mandel, 24, who was shot and killed early Tuesday while searching for terrorists in Nablus.
By late afternoon, Daniel’s body lay in a flag-draped wood coffin, in the center of his hometown of Alon Shvut, where people had known him as a charismatic, funny, musical young man devoted to his country and Judaism.
His mother, Sheryl, stood alone by the body and looked out at the more than a thousand mourners gathered to say goodbye.
’We always thought of you as lucky. Everyone in Alon Shvut remembers when you won the trip to the EuroDisney. Everyone remembers when you won the thousands of shekels of books that you gave to the yeshiva. Wherever you were the sun shined and there was laughter. Today, I’m not so sure,’ said Sheryl Mandel.
’You had a bullet-proof vest, you had a bullet-proof helmet, we understand that the mission went as it should have, that you were behind the wall, that you were shooting and that you died a hero,’ she said.
’Fifteen-and-a-half years ago we brought you here from Canada because this is a place for Jews to live. We brought you here because it is our homeland. We accepted that there were difficulties and there might be a price,’ said Sheryl, a mother of five. One of her sons, Jonah, has already completed army service while Gabriel, 19, joined just two weeks ago.
’When you went into the army we knew and accepted there might be a price. Always, I think, every one of us in Israel knows they might be called on to pay a price. I guess the time has come and we have to pay the price,’ said his mother, bundled in a black coat and tan hat against the cold.
’You loved the army, you loved your soldiers. You were there four years, you were thinking of staying longer. Maybe I was naive. I was happy for you when you were accepted to become an officer. I was so proud of you just a few weeks ago, when we went to the ceremony for your course, to see how you developed as a person, as a man and as a leader. They spoke beautifully about you,’ she said.
Jonah, 25, said that unlike the other speakers he had no prepared remarks, maybe because putting words on paper finalized his younger brother’s death. Staring at the coffin, he said, ’This is it. You will never again be a brother, a friend, a son. Nothing is left, only memories, many memories. I tried to think how you would respond if you were standing here. You would be optimistic, but it’s hard to say how long that would last, because you were one of the sources of happiness and positive thinking in the family. You always had a core of strength,’ Jonah said.
Breaking down into tears, he told of how if he was ever upset he would call his brother just to hear his voice.
’Now you are here, and you will never move again. You died doing something you felt was important. We can only cry. In your short life, you were a teacher to all of us,’ he said.
Earlier in the day, he told The Jerusalem Post that his brother valued education, which was part of the reason he was so successful in training soldiers. ’He thought it was important to work with people and to educate them. He had lots of dreams. He wanted to learn more Torah and music,’ said Jonah.
’He played piano, harmonica, guitar and the Uilleann bagpipes — that is, Irish bagpipes that you play with your elbows.’
The brothers, who were in close contact, spoke for the last time on Saturday night. He was with a friend who worked at a winery. They were enjoying red wine with nutmeg and an evening of songs. Daniel was on the piano.
On Tuesday morning, while he was still in bed, his mother called, Jonah said. ’My mother is a straight shooter. You can tell by her voice what is up. She said, ’where are you? Daniel died.’’
One friend recalled at the funeral how their group of friends would often meet on Shabbat afternoons, unless Daniel was absent. The moment he was gone, it seemed like no one was around, he said.
Speaking at the funeral, Daniel’s friend, Ariel Burger, recalled the last time he had seen Daniel and tried to sway him to come study with him on a Shabbat afternoon. Daniel turned him down, but called late that night, somewhat drunk, to apologize and suggested he join him at a friend’s. Burger came, but found him already sleeping on the sofa. ’I gave you a kiss and said, ’I love you, and went home.’’
Soldiers lifted Daniel’s coffin and placed it in a military vehicle, leaving the doors open. Mourners walked behind it slowly as it drove to the cemetery, stopping once as kaddish was said. Daniel’s parents each placed a hand on the coffin and held hands as they walked.
At the cemetery, Daniel was given a military funeral. His body, wrapped in a tallit, was removed from the coffin and lowered into the grave.
One of the soldiers who served with him recalled how the two would meet at funerals of friends. ’I hugged you tighter each time. I said, ’promise you will take care of yourself.’ And Daniel said always, ’don’t worry,’ but I did.’
The funeral ended with a song by Shlomo Gronich played over loudspeakers. Jonah said his brother had commented only a few weeks earlier that he felt funerals should end on an upbeat note like a song.
In Memoriam
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