'Until now I wasn't physically able to cry, because of the pain from the stab wounds, and I'm still traumatized. One of my goals is to allow myself to grieve,' Kaye Wilson tells Haaretz.

Did delay in West Bank fence construction let the Palestinian terror cell uncovered Wednesday to slip through?
Israeli High Court had delayed work on that segment due to a petition lodged on behalf of the 30,000 Palestinians who would have been penned in.

Published 26.01.11

Kaye Wilson coolly describes the most frightening moment of her life when she and her friend Kristine Luken were stabbed by two men while hiking in the woods near Jerusalem on December 18. Luken died in the attack.

"I remember it all very clearly, the smells, the flowers, the weather, and how the attackers looked, what they said and the last expression on Kristine's face," Wilson says. "I made the decision not to blur the memory, just as I told Kristine there, before she was killed, remember how they look so we can describe them to the police."

Wilson was stabbed 12 times, four of her ribs were broken, along with two other bones in her chest, and she underwent surgery to repair damage to her diaphragm. She walks slowly now, with visible pain. Her dog, who was also stabbed in the attack, never leaves her side.

"I don't let myself miss [Kristine]," Wilson says. "Until now I wasn't physically able to cry, because of the pain from the stab wounds, and I'm still traumatized. One of my goals is to allow myself to grieve, but I can't just yet, it hasn't sunk in. It was unimaginable barbarism. It wasn't just a bullet to the head, they terrorized us. It's still very hard for me because the case is still open, when the investigation is made public I anticipate a certain emotional relief and tranquility when the bastards are caught.

"They intended to kill me too, but they didn't know anatomy, anyone with a brain would have known where to stab," Wilson says with a smile before turning serious again. "They were so brutal, it was like being in the presence of Satan for 30 minutes, and as a result I saw God's mercy. For the first 10 minutes my head was like jelly, I couldn't respond or think and then I went into a condition of no feelings and I could make a plan.

I'm no hero, I disassociated because Kristine was weaker than I because she didn't know Hebrew, and it gave me the push to act."



The gap in the separation fence in the Hebron Hills area, through which the terror cell uncovered Wednesday apparently entered, is the largest gap to adjoin a residential area. The hole extends for about 12 kilometers, from southern Jerusalem to the village of Jaba, south of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc.

The delay in building the fence in this area apparently stems from a petition to the High Court of Justice. But Shaul Arieli, an expert on the fence from the Council for Peace and Security, claims that were the state determined to build the fence in this area, it could do so without any problem.

Two fences are actually slated for construction in the area, essentially to surround Gush Etzion on both sides. But such a fence would also pen in 30,000 Palestinians, who therefore lodged the High Court petition.

The court's last hearing on the issue was held in 2006. Four months ago, Supreme Court President Dorit Benisch asked the state whether it still intends to build a fence in the area, but the state has yet to respond to this inquiry.

Instead, the State Prosecutor's Office has repeatedly asked the court to extend its deadline for doing so. Currently, the state is supposed to supply its answer next week.

Jerusalem district police chief Aharon Franco said Wednesday that in recent years, the police and the Israel Defense Forces have had to devote a lot of resources to dealing with problems created by the gap in the fence.



http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/surivor-of-stabbing-attack-recalls-unimaginable-barbarism-1.339316

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/did-delay-in-west-bank-fence-construction-let-terror-cell-slip-through-1.339406