Wadi al-Haramiya sniper attack

The Wadi al-Haramiya sniper attack was a Palestinian sniper attack against Israeli soldiers and civilians on March 3, 2002. A lone Palestinian sniper, 22-year-old Tha'ir Kayid Hamad (Arabic: ثائر كايد حماد‎), a member of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades from the village of Silwad carried out the attack. He had acquired an old Second World War Mauser rifle and 30 rounds of ammunition and had done target practice in the valleys around Silwad. Hamad managed to kill seven Israeli soldiers and three civilians before escaping. He was arrested two years later and sentenced to life imprisonment, and is currently imprisoned in Israel.

Wadi Haramiya sniper attack
Part of Second Intifada
DateMarch 3, 2002
Location
Wadi al-Haramiya Checkpoint near Ofra, West Bank, Palestinian territories
Belligerents
Israel al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades
Strength
1 company
1 helicopter		 1 sniper
Casualties and losses
7 soldiers killed
6 wounded		 None
3 Israeli civilians killed

The incident

Wadi al-Haramiya (Arabic: وادي الحرامية‎), meaning 'Valley of the Thieves'[1] is a valley between Ramallah and Nablus on the West Bank.

The IDF was maintaining a checkpoint at Uyoun al-Haramiya (the Wells of Haramiya), near the Israeli settlement Ofra, manned by a reserve company.

Before dawn on the morning of 3 March 2002 the sniper positioned himself under some olive trees on a hilltop overlooking the checkpoint. At 6:40 he opened fire at the three soldiers manning the checkpoint and the driver of a civilian car, which had stopped at the checkpoint. All four were killed within minutes. Nine Israeli soldiers were inside a barracks building. Platoon commander Lieutenant David Damelin and the unit's medic Yochai Porat emerged from the building to locate the shooter and assist the casualties. Both were shot dead. The remaining soldiers decided to stay inside the building and called for reinforcements.[2]

A patrol jeep that arrived with reinforcements immediately came under fire. The reserve company's sergeant, Avraham Ezra, was killed and several of his men were injured. The rest of the casualties occurred when randomly arriving civilian cars stopped at the checkpoint. Three Israeli civilians and an IDF officer were killed.[2] Tha'ir Hamad claimed in an interview (obtained by unknown means from prison) that the Israelis were armed and that one of them took aim at him but that he shot first. He also claimed that he refrained from harming an Israeli woman and her children, shouting at her in Hebrew and Arabic to leave the area.[3]

Two of the Israeli civilians killed, Sergei Birmov, 33, and Vadim Balagula, 32, were killed when they stopped their car at the checkpoint, as they made their way to work at a candy factory in Jerusalem.[4]

The Israelis never succeeded in locating the sniper's hiding place even after dispatching a helicopter. He had intended to continue shooting but when he fired his 25th bullet the old rifle exploded, making it useless. He was therefore forced to give up and returned to his village. Seven soldiers, two of them officers, and three civilians were killed in the 25-minute attack. Another six Israelis were wounded, four of them seriously.[5]

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attack. Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti praised the attack. "Blessed be the fighting hands of the heroes, who dealt these blows to the army of occupation," he said.[5]

The Israeli authorities assumed that the shooter was a highly trained marksman from an elite unit, such as Force 17.[2][6] The average Palestinian militant could not be expected to hit 14 people with 25 bullets. Mossad also contacted European and American security agencies to help identify the killer. Mossad suspected that a member of the Irish Republican Army could be responsible for the act.[7] The sniper became a hero among local residents.

Haaretz veteran military correspondent Ze'ev Schiff called the incident "[o]ne of most stinging and bizarre fiascoes" of the IDF in the Second Intifada: "the entire incident can only be described as a massive blunder and a disgrace for the IDF. No excuse can be accepted. This sort of incident cannot be blamed on the lower ranks."[8] A series of investigations were carried out with the apparent purpose of exonerating the senior officers and putting the full blame on the soldiers at the checkpoint. The scandal led to a major overhaul of rules for IDF probes.[9]

Capture and imprisonment

On the night of October 3, 2004, following a manhunt by the IDF and Shin Bet, Tha'ir Kayid Hamad was arrested by an IDF force of the Duchifat Battalion.[10][11] He was trialed, convicted, and given 11 life sentences.[6]

Hamad is incarcerated in Nafha Prison in the Negev. In 2015, he was put in solitary confinement after issuing a statement calling for Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem to revolt over Israeli "attacks" on the Al-Aqsa Mosque.[12] In 2017, he was reportedly injured in a clash with prison guards.[13]

Fatalities

IDF soldiers

  1. Capt. Ariel Hovav, 25, of Eli.[4]
  2. Lt.(res.) David Damelin, 29, of Kibbutz Metzar[4]
  3. 1st Sgt.(res.) Rafael Levy, 42, of Rishon LeZion[4]
  4. Sgt.-Maj.(res.) Avraham Ezra, 38, of Kiryat Bialik [4]
  5. Sgt.-Maj.(res.) Eran Gad, 24, of Rishon LeZion[4]
  6. Sgt.-Maj.(res.) Yochai Porat, 26, of Kfar Saba[4]
  7. Sgt.-Maj.(res.) Kfir Weiss, 24, of Beit Shemesh[4]

Civilians

  1. Sergei Birmov, 33, of Ariel.[4]
  2. Vadim Balagula, 32, of Ariel.[4]
  3. Didi Yitzhak, 66, of Eli.[4]

See also

References
  1. Sonia Nimr,"A Nation in a hero, in Mark Andrew LeVine, Gershon Shafir (eds.)Struggle and Survival in Palestine/Israel, University of California Press, 2012 pp.141-142
  2. Haaretz Staff (4 March 2002). "10 slain near Ofra; soldier dies in Gaza". Haaretz. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  3. "الأسير القنـاص البطل ثائر حماد / يروي من سجنه لأول مـرة كيف استطاع قتل 11 إسرائيلياً وجرح 8 آخرين فى عملية وادي الحراميـة (Imprisoned heroic sniper Tha'ir Hamad tells for the first time from his prison how he managed to kill 11 Israelis and wound 8 others in the Wadi al-Haramiya operation)". The Prisoners Centre for Studies. 2007-02-09. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  4. "Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism since September 2000". MFA. Retrieved 2011-09-17.
  5. Amos Harel, Aliza Arbeli (2002-03-03). "Funerals held for two of 10 killed in W. Bank sniper attack". Ha'aretz.
  6. Kobi Ben-Simhon (24 November 2009). "I forgave him". Haaretz. Retrieved 2011-09-17.
  7. Sean Rayment (10 March 2002). "IRA link to PLO examined in hunt for deadly sniper". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2011-09-17.
  8. Ze'ev Schiff (4 March 2002). "IDF has yet to learn its roadblock lesson". Haaretz. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  9. Gideon Alon (2005-02-28). "An attack on IDF probes". Haaretz. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  10. Amos Harel (6 October 2004). "Sniper who killed 10 Israelis arrested". Haaretz. Retrieved 2011-09-17.
  11. https://www.haaretz.co.il/1.1004284
  12. https://english.palinfo.com/news/2015/9/21/IOA-isolates-Palestinian-prisoner/
  13. http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?ID=774713

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