For those wanting the article at the link above:
Last Update: 12/03/2004 18:56
Palestinian youths stab cab driver in Be'er Sheva
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent
Two Palestinians stabbed a Be'er Sheva taxi driver Thursday in what they claimed was a terrorist attack.
Ya'akov Ma'ani, 50, is currently in serious condition at the Soroka Medical Center, suffering from multiple wounds in his upper body.
Ma'ani was driving his cab in the city's Ramot neighborhood when two Palestinian teenagers flagged him down and asked him to take them to the Neveh Ze'ev neighborhood. When they arrived, he asked for the fare, at which point the two pulled out a knife and stabbed him repeatedly.
A neighborhood resident and career soldier, who was identified only by the name of Gabi, happened to be on his balcony at the time. "I heard shouting," he related. "I looked down and saw the driver shouting and the car going out of control. I grabbed my gun and ran toward them. One [Palestinian] sat in the back seat and one in front. I pulled out my gun and ordered them to get out and lie down on the ground. One of them got out with the knife and was considering attacking me. I yelled at him to throw the knife away and he did."
Other neighborhood residents called the police. Before they arrived, some of the residents also beat the two assailants, who were lightly injured.
The assailants, aged 17 and 19, from the village of Dahariyeh in the south Hebron hills, told the police that they are in the process of returning to religion and therefore decided to carry out a terror attack. Their original plan was to attack a soldier, steal his gun and use it to carry out the attack. They said that they chose Be'er Sheva as the venue because they are familiar with the city.
They said they also conducted surveillance of some of the settlements in the southern Hebron area with an eye to committing an attack there as well. The elder of the two added that he once wanted to commit an attack in Jerusalem, but was persuaded not to do so by his friends.
Police are still investigating whether the two had accomplices who helped them reach Be'er Sheva. Neveh Ze'ev residents said that they saw a car leaving the scene of the crime, but police have not yet managed to trace the vehicle.
Brigadier General Haim Cohen, commander of the Negev Police, praised Gabi for his quick response. "There is no doubt that by his determined action, he saved the lives of the taxi driver and of other citizens," Cohen said.
Following the attack, Be'er Sheva taxi drivers demonstrated opposite the city's police headquarters, charging that the police are endangering their lives by forcing them to wear seat belts.
"If [Ma'ani] hadn't been wearing his seat belt, he could have run away or drawn a gun," said Carmel Shiri, one of Ma'ani's colleagues. "Instead of chasing terrorists, they chase us about our seat belts."
Negev security officials have recently been increasingly worried about the possibility of terror attacks in the region, arguing that as construction of the separation fence progresses in the north, the unfenced south will become a more attractive target for terrorists. The solution, said Cohen, is to finish the fence in the south as quickly as possible.
