ICEJ NEWS - 05/11/2001
Israeli security forces detained for questioning close to 30 Palestinians from villages in the Tekoa area following the brutal murders of Jewish youths Kobi Mandell and Yosef Ish-Ran, both 14, on Wednesday.

While some detainees have since been released, Israeli authorities strongly suspect the murderers are within the group still in custody. Initial reports said there was only slight headway in the investigation, but ARUTZ-7 spoke today of "significant progress" in the probe, adding that police now believe the murders were planned. YEDIOT AHARONOT reports that the terrorists tortured the boys for some two hours before finally murdering them, while the WASHINGTON POST cited Israeli police as saying the perpetrators dipped their hands in the youth's blood and rubbed it on the walls of the cave - reminiscent of Palestinian behavior in the lynching of two IDF reservists in Ramallah last fall. A group called Hizb'Allah-Palestine claimed responsibility and said the killings were revenge for the killing of four-month-old Iman Hijo, who was killed in IDF return-fire in Khan Yunis on Monday.

A US State Department official said yesterday that the FBI had also opened an investigation concerning the murder of the two Israeli teenagers, since one of the youths, Kobi Mandell, was an American citizen.

Meantime, Israeli President Moshe Katsav said on Thursday that Israel would never stoop to the brutality displayed in the stoning to death of the two Jewish boys this week, which he said brought about a terrifying realization of how much cruelty and hatred the Palestinians harbor against Israelis.

"There is a huge gap between us and our enemies - not just in ability but in morality, culture, sanctity of life, and conscience," Katsav told reporters at Beit Hanassi. "We would never stoop to the kind of brutality inflicted on the victims in Tekoa and Ofra," he added. "They're our neighbors here, but it seems as if at a distance of a few hundred meters away, there are people who don't belong to our continent, to our world, but actually belong to a different galaxy."

Katsav said Israel must change its approach to the Palestinians, and said that although "force is no solution to anything, sometimes it's essential." The confidence of Israelis in PLO chief Yasser Arafat as a partner has been shattered and will be difficult to restore, Katsav said. "We've finished with words."

While appalled at the death of any child who may become a victim of the conflict, Katsav made the distinction between the victim accidentally hit by a bullet or a mortar and deliberate murder.

Meanwhile, the American Academy of Pediatrics, a 60,000-member strong organization, issued a statement Wednesday denouncing the Palestinians for using their children as human shields during street fights against IDF soldiers. The comments were largely in reference to recent ads on Palestinian TV urging children to put down their toys and go become martyrs in the fight against Israeli troops.

Used with Permission from International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.