Killing of Esther Ohana

Esther Ohana (Alt.: Ester Ohana) was an Israeli woman who was killed by a rock thrown by a Palestinian Arab through the window of the vehicle in which she was riding on 29 January 1983, hitting her directly in the head. Ohana never regained consciousness and died two weeks later in hospital.[1]

Ohana was the first Israeli to be killed by a Palestinian stone-throwing attack.[1]

Attack

The attack took place on the Beersheva - Hebron road, where it passed through the Arab town of Dhahiriya.[1] Ohana, a civilian social worker form Beit Shean, was riding in a private vehicle driven by an army officer at the time of the attack.[2][3][4][5] Ohana was taken to a hospital, she died on 12 February without ever having regained consciousness.[6][1] She was to have been married a week later.[5][7]

Search for killers and curfew

Israel immediately imposed a curfew on Dahariya, permitting residents to leave their houses only during a 2-hour period each day as police sought clues to the identity of the perpetrators.[1] After three weeks, 5 suspects were arrested and the curfew was lifted.[4]

Conviction and sentencing

Five youths were convicted of "deliberately causing death" and sentenced to between 11 and 13 years in prison.[8] Four of the youths confessed to having thrown rocks at the car in which Ohana was a passenger, the fifth confessed to being the leader of the "terrorist cell," but stated that he had not personally thrown rocks. No penalty was imposed on the house of the man who did not throw stones. The houses of the four who threw stones were "forfeited and sealed off" under Regulation 119. The penalty was upheld on appeal on the grounds that it is the "duty and right" of the Military Commander "to protect all people using public roads, Jews and Arabs alike; given the plague of throwing stones."[2]

Impact

Addressing the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, General Rafael Eitan is reported to have urged that "for every stone that the Arabs throw in the West Bank," ten new settlements should be built.[4] In April, Israel announced that it would expand 68 West Bank settlements, increasing the Jewish population of the West Bank from 30,000 to 50,000.[4]

On January 31, 1983 the Israeli cabinet approved the establishment of the West Bank settlement of Teneh Omarim as a Nahal post by 21 members of the Socialist-Zionist Hashomer Hatzair movement who had intended to settle at Kibbutz Nir Oz in the Negev, and instead settled at Teneh Omarim, near the road where Ohana had been killed two days before.

Context

Five years later, during the First Intifada, a Jewish civilian, Vardi Bamberger, 25, of Pesagot, was severely injured when rocks were thrown at the vehicle in which she was riding at the same spot where Ester Ohana was killed. Bamberger suffered a fractured skull, but survived.[9]

References
  1. Precker, Michael (17 February 1983). "Israeli death, W. Bank curfew: Stone-throwing fatality disrupts life for the people of Dahariya". Boston Globe. ProQuest 1637354448.
  2. Dinstein, Yoram (2000). Israel yearbook on human rights. Vol. 29 (1999); HC123/83, Abu Alan, et al vs. Minister of Defense et al. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 257. ISBN 9041114947.
  3. "Israeli Woman Injured in Rock Throwing Incident on West Bank". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 30 January 1983. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  4. "Israel to Expand Settlements in Occupied Areas". Los Angeles Times. AP. 12 April 1983. ProQuest 153425714.
  5. Flatow, Stephen (15 January 2014). "Murder by stoning: Palestinian terrorists' forgotten weapon". The American Israelite. ProQuest 1493280980.
  6. "The Palestinian Popular Resistance and Its Built-In Violence (p. 117)" (PDF). Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. 9 June 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  7. Rafael Medoff, 'Baltimore 'riot mom' needed in Jerusalem', JNS.org 3 May 2015
  8. "The World". Los Angeles Times. 11 May 1983. ProQuest 153456701.
  9. "Two Arabs Killed, As Authorities Get Tough on Radical Islamic Group". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 19 September 1988. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
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