The three members of the Tmeizi family, among them a two and a half month infant, Diya Marwan Tmeizi, were killed in an attack carried out by what appears to be Jewish terrorists. Based on the evidence collected by the police, the terrorists waited for the family's vehicle on the road between the villages of Idna and Tarkumiye, close to the Green Line, fired a number of volleys into them and fled westward, apparently into Israeli territory. A Jewish organization calling itself "The Committee for Road Safety" took responsibility for the revolting attack.
The Shin Bet security services believe there is a single Jewish terrorist cell operating in the area, called the "Halhul cell." This cell has already carried out a number of attacks against Palestinians, among them the shooting at a car near Hebron, three months ago. There also was the shooting at a truck near Ma'aleh Adumim in which a Palestinian resident of Hebron was killed, and apparently also the attack against a car near the settlement of Rimonim, in which three Palestinians were injured. In addition to these attacks there have been reports of other instances in which settlers shot at Palestinian passersby in different areas of the West Bank.
These instances to a great extent challenge the assumption that we are only dealing with a single terrorist cell. The ability of such a cell, or such cells, to carry out attacks for some time without any of its members being caught suggests not only the difficulty which intelligence has had in uncovering its members, but also the supportive surroundings in which such a cell can operate without fear of being exposed. Based on expert intelligence experience with Palestinian terrorists, those who carry out attacks require assistance, logistic support - and especially the turning of a blind eye by anyone who might notice their activities. The case of the Jewish underground, which operated in the 1980s, made it very clear that in the absence of a supportive environment, in practice and spirit, it is doubtful whether its members could have carried out their attacks.
This sort of support is only getting stronger among the Hebron settlers, and not only there. Calls for vigilante actions of deterrent and revenge are being heard with increasing frequency - once again backed by the pronouncements and writings of rabbis and spiritual instructors. The Yesha rabbis may endeavor to separate the justification for revenge from those who actually carry it out (the IDF), but it seems that not everyone on the extreme right wing accepts this separation. And given the large number of armed settlers, and the fact that the Jewish terrorist cells are not being uncovered, it seems the only thing left for us to hope for is that there will not be a rapid deterioration into armed gang warfare between Jews and Arabs.
One cannot base security on such flimsy hope and this is no way to fight against terrorism. The murder of Palestinians, even if it is attributed to a single cell, lays serious blame on all the settlers and on the state of Israel. The legal authorities must do all in their power to bring terrorists to trial and activate the full force of the law against those who break it, even if their crimes are not as serious as actual murder. For this essential enterprise, all those who can must lend a hand to help prevent the next horrible crime.