After more than a decade since the IDF launched its major counter terror operation to restore law and order in Yehuda and Shomron, a Sefer Torah was dedicated in memory of 13 reservists who fell in Operation Defensive Shield. The soldiers were from the reserve duty Nachshon Battalion 5th Division, all giving their lives in the battle in Jenin.

This reserve duty unit is currently serving in the Hebron area, and earlier in the week the soldiers arrived in the community of Sussia in the S. Hebron Hills together with family members of the fallen, completing the writing of the Sefer Torah in the ancient shul dating back 1,500 years.

Operation Defensive Shield was a large-scale military operation conducted by the IDF in 2002 during the so-called “Second Intifada” was the largest military operation in Yehuda and Shomron since the Six Day War, back in 1967. The operation began on March 29th as IDF forces surrounded Yasser Arafat’s Mukata headquarters in Ramallah.

As Jenin served as a major terrorist base and launching pad, over 1,000 soldiers entered the PA city on April 2nd. Every effort was made to encourage civilians to leave the area. The city was filled with explosives waiting for the IDF force. On day three of operations, soldiers entered an ambush, claiming the lives of the 13. The PA (Palestinian Authority) claimed there was an IDF massacre of residents, telling the world IDF soldiers murdered 500 civilians and dumped them in a mass grave. The UN disproved Yasser Arafat’s claims which were backed fiercely by the radical Israeli left.

Israel reported literally a handful of civilians were killed along with dozens of armed terrorists. For Israel, 23 soldiers fell in Jenin and over 70 were wounded.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)