Israel Matzav

What if Hawatmeh is arrested?

As I noted earlier, master terrorist Nayef Hawatmeh, the planner of the 1974 Maalot Massacre, has been given permission by Ehud K. Olmert to attend a 'Palestine National Council' meeting in Ramallah on Wednesday. Hawatmeh has already decided he would like to stay longer. And maybe he will get to stay longer: in an Israeli jail cell.

Aryeh Boznach of Tzfat was one of the survivors of the Maalot Massacre. Boznach says he intends to file a police complaint against Hawatmeh and that he knows of other survivors who plan to do the same. And once a police complaint is filed, it's supposed to be out of Olmert's hands:

Speaking with Arutz-7's Uzi Baruch, Boznach said that the political/diplomatic echelons are authorized to permit Hawatmeh to enter, "but once there is a police complaint, it becomes a criminal matter, and he will be considered wanted by the police."

Boznach, who still resides in Tzfat, said that other survivors of the attack are planning to file similar complaints.

The attack in Maalot in northern Israel, on May 14-15, 1974, was one of the worst Israel has ever suffered. Timed to coincide with Israel's 26th Independence Day, the attack began when three terrorists from Lebanon infiltrated Israel dressed as Israeli soldiers. They first attacked a car carrying women workers, not realizing the occupants were Arabs; two women were killed. They then killed a family in its aparment, and then stormed the Netiv Meir elementary school in Maalot, where a group of about 100 14-16 year olds were sleeping while on an overnight school trip.

The terrorists immediately killed three people, including a security guard, while some students managed to escape. The rest of the group, including some teachers, were held as hostages, while the terrorists presented their demands early the next morning: the release by 6 PM of two dozen Arab terrorists. Israel's government met in an emergency session, and agreed to negotiate, but asked for more time. The terrorists refused. At 5:45 PM, a unit of the elite IDF Sayeret Matkal special forces stormed the building and killed the terrorists - but the terrorists managed to murder about a quarter of their hostages first. In total, the attack claimed 21 high school students and five adults.

Just a month earlier, three PFLP terrorists infiltrated into northern Israel from Lebanon, and murdered 18 people in the city of Kiryat Shmonah.

A day after the Maalot massacre, the IDF bombed seven Palestinian refugee camps and villages in southern Lebanon, used as terrorist offices and training bases; 27 people were killed and 138 injured. A year later, the Yeshivat Hesder in Maalot was formed.

"All these years," Boznach said to Arutz-7's Uzi Baruch, "I have been suffering, barely sleeping or even living, from this attack. Now, finally, when [Hawatmeh] is coming to Israel, the time has come to act against him."

Go for it Aryeh!

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:23 PM