Terror Attack Leaves Psagot Residents Doubting Peace Process
Error: Contact form not found.
by Anav Silverman / Tazpit News Agency
A Fatah post on Facebook praising the terrorist who wounded a 9-year old Israeli girl. Photo: Palestinian Media Watch.
It was a frightening Saturday night for the residents of Psagot, a community of 1,800 people located in Judea and Samaria, north of Jerusalem. A Palestinian terrorist broke into the community, firing from point-blank range at nine-year-old Noam Glick, who was playing on the balcony of her home. The girl was lightly wounded, and was hospitalized in Jerusalem.
Noam’s father, Yisrael Glick, told Israel’s Army Radio that Noam managed to get back into the house after she was shot. “Noam told us there was an Arab man out there. I realized that this was a security incident. It’s the scariest thing that can happen here – to have a terrorist enter your home,” he said.
“We (the residents) immediately received SMS messages about the incident and were told to close the shutters of our windows and stay in the more secure, inner areas of our homes.”
“I placed my son in our bedroom because it’s the safest room and he couldn’t fall asleep for the next two hours,” Ofer said. “I tried to remain as calm as possible, but he could sense my worry.”
Residents in Psagot were instructed to stay indoors throughout Saturday night, and were allowed to exit the community only at 5 AM the next morning.
Psagot is the home of 320 families and more than 1,000 children.
“We are a very strong and tight-knit community,” said David Tzviel, the spokesperson for Psagot. He told Tazpit News Agency that residents were not optimistic about the current peace negotiations. “We are counting the days until the next attack happens – we are fortunate that this incident ended in a miracle,” he said. “We can see our neighbors don’t want peace,” Tzviel said, pointing out that Fatah’s official Facebook page praised the Palestinian attacker on Sunday.
As for Liat Ofer, the young mother says that the terror incident will not make her move away. “I grew up in Psagot and we’ve had difficult times in the past – we were constantly targeted by gunfire during the Second Intifada,” she says.
“However, our army and community security forces responded quickly and efficiently to this attack and I feel safe because of their work,” Ofer explains.
“But I hope this terror attack remains a one-time incident.”
