Palestinian girl tries to stab security guard in Anathoth
Guard shoots and kills 13-year-old who assaulted him with a knife; she apparently fought with her family and left her home in 'Anata with the intention to die.
A 13-year-old Palestinian girl tried to stab a civilian security guard at the entrance to the settlement of Anathoth in the West Bank's Binyamin region on Saturday morning. The security guard shot and killed her before she was able to hurt him.
Initial investigation found that the Palestinian girl, Raqiya Abu Eid, had a fight with her family, leading her to leave her home in the nearby village of 'Anata with a knife in her bag, apparently planning to die. Her father went after her, but arrived at the scene shortly after the attempted stabbing.
When she arrived in Anathoth at around 8am, she encountered the settlement's security guard who asked her to identify herself, leading her to run towards the guard, knife-in-hand.
The guard managed to dodge the knife and then shoot her, critically wounding her. Paramedics tried to resuscitate her, but had to declare her dead at the scene.
The girl's father was arrested and taken for questioning at the Ma'ale Adumim police station, and police will try to ascertain whether the family knew the girl intended to stab Israelis and if so, whether they did anything to stop her.
Her mother, Reeda Abu Eid, said there had been no trouble before her daughter left the family home, a tent in the Palestinian village 'Anata.
"Her father works in a farm and Raqiya used to go to him. I didn't see her when she left so I expected she had gone to her father," she said. "Raqiya is a small girl, how could she stab someone?"
The family is originally from the village of Yatta, near Hebron, and has only recently moved to 'Anata.
Statistics show that a third of the attackers or would-be attackers in the current wave of violence have been under the age of 20, with the most recent of them being Othman Shaalan, 19, who carried out the stabbing attack in Tekoa that wounded Michal Fruman, and Morad Adais, 16, who murdered Dafna Meir in Otniel.
Roi Yanovsky, Elior Levy and Reuters contributed to this report.
