French Hill attacks

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French Hill attacks refer to numerous attacks by Palestinians near the Jerusalem neighborhood of the French Hill, a neighborhood in north-central Jerusalem. It is located in territory captured by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967.

Especially targeted has been the intersection just north of the French Hill Junction, which connects Northern Jerusalem to Maale Adumim and the Dead Sea. This intersection is not within French Hill, nor at the entrance to French Hill, and most French Hill residents are not in any danger or even aware of them until they hear about them via the news media, although most of the media insists on calling the location "French Hill Junction" rather than "Maale Adumim Junction".

A US News and World Report Article entitled: "Jerusalem's Violent Crossroads" explains that "The busy thoroughfare, which divides the Jewish neighborhood of French Hill from the Arab neighborhood of Shuafat, is the most accessible corner in the city for a West Bank terrorist looking for a crowd of Israelis." ^[1]

[edit] List of attacks

• On September 22, 1992, a border policeman, Avinoam Peretz, was killed at the junction. Hamas took responsibility.

• On July, 1993, a car was hijacked in the junction by a Hamas terrorist, and the woman driving the car was killed.

• On February 26, 1996, a car was deliberately driven over a group of civilian pedestrians in the junction, killing civilian Flora Yehiel, 28, of Kiryat Ata.^[2]
• On March 27, 2001, 28 people were injured, two seriously, in a suicide bombing on a northbound No. 6 bus at the French Hill Junction. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.^[3]

• On Sept 15, 2001, Meir Weisshaus, 23, of Jerusalem, was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting on the Ramot-French Hill road.^[4]

• On October 7, 2001, a civilian, Salomon Haim, was murdered.

• On November 4, 2001. Shoshana Ben Ishai, 16, of Betar Illit, and Menashe (Meni) Regev, 14, of Jerusalem were killed when a Palestinian terrorist opened fire with a sub-machine gun shortly before 16:00 at a No. 25 Egged bus at the French Hill junction in northern Jerusalem. 45 people were injured in the attack.^[5]

• On March 17, 2002, a suicide bombing of an Israeli bus in French Hill injured 25.^[6]

• On June 19, 2002, an Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades suicide attack at a crowded bus stop and hitchhiking post at the French Hill intersection killed 10 civilians. Among them were Gila Sara Kessler, 19, of Eli (town), ^[7] Shmuel Yerushalmi, 17, of Shilo, and Gal Eisenman, 5, of Ma'ale Adumim, when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a crowded bus stop and hitchhiking post at the French Hill intersection in northern Jerusalem.^[8]

• On May 18, 2003, a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt, detonated himself on a bus at the French Hill Junction. Seven Israelis were killed, and 20 were wounded. The victims were Olga Brenner, 52; Yitzhak Moyal, 64; Nelly Perov, 55; Marina Tsahivershvili, 44; Shimon Ustinsky, 68; and Roni Yisraeli, 34 - all of the Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood in Jerusalem; and Ghalab Tawil, 42, of Shuafat. ^[9]

• On March 19, 2004, George Khoury, 20, a Christian Arab and the son of well-known veteran attorney Elias Khoury of Beit Hanina, was shot to death from a vehicle while jogging in French Hill. The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which claimed responsibility for the attack, later published an apology.^[10]

• On September 22, 2004, an 18-year-old female suicide bomber belonging to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades killed 2 people and wounded 33 in the crowded bus station at the junction. ^[11]

[edit] References