IDF to install cameras, distress buttons at West Bank hitchhiking posts
Decision comes amid warnings of additional attempts by terror organizations to kidnap Israeli citizens in area
The IDF will soon begin installing surveillance cameras and distress buttons at hitchhiking posts situated along Highway 60 in the West Bank amid warnings of additional attempts by terror organizations to kidnap Israeli citizens.
The project will cost an estimated NIS 2 million (about $500,000).
On June 25 of last year, Eliyahu Asheri, 18, was kidnapped by terrorists from the Popular Resistance Committees at a hitchhiking post near Ofra. His body was found a few days later in Ramallah’s Tira neighborhood.
On June 15 of the same year, two Israeli teenage girls escaped a kidnapping attempt at a hitchhiking post located at the Rahelim Junction in Samaria.
An initial IDF investigation revealed that three Palestinians from Jenin tried to force the girls into their car at gunpoint.
The two resisted and one of the girls, 15-year-old Emuna Shachar of Jerusalem, sustained light injuries as a result of the tussle. The gunmen were apprehended following a pursuit by security forces.
The IDF has recently launched a campaign aimed at informing settlers on the risks involved in hitchhiking in the area. The army and police have also increased their presence at the hitchhiking posts.
A senior IDF Central Command officer told Ynet that the surveillance cameras would relay the images to a nearby settlement, and in case of danger, local security personnel would be dispatched to the scene along with police and army forces.
The official added that an additional 40 armored buses are to be acquired over the next three years, providing residents with a safer alternative to hitchhiking. Public transportation services in the West Bank are currently hard-to-access and operate infrequently and, as a result, most residents opt for the more dangerous option of hitchhiking.
