The Jerusalem District Court sentenced Asher Weisgan, to four life
terms and additional twelve years after he was found guilty of
murdering four Palestinian workers who worked with him at an aluminum
factory in Shilo settlement, in the northern part of the West Bank in
August 2005.
The man said he carried his crime in an attempt to stop the implementation of the Disengagement Plan when the former Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon was in power.
Israeli sources reported that the court order to compensate the families of the victims.
Weisgan is a resident of Shvut Rachel illegal settlement in the West Bank. After carrying his crime, he said that he hoped that his actions “will encourage others to follow his lead”.
Weisgan was found guilty on September 11 by three judges who convicted him on four counts of murder and attempted murder, sabotage and wounder under sever circumstances, Israeli Ynetnews reported.
The terrorist attack was carried out in August 2005 when he was driving four Palestinian workers out of Shilo settlement, he stopped at the entrance gate of the settlement, and approached the security guard booth.
The guard thought Weisgan wanted to collect the identity cards of the Palestinian workers before driving them out of the settlement, but then Weisgan asked the guard for water, snatched him M-16 rifle and fired at the workers.
Palestinians working in settlements always hand their ID cards to the guards before they enter the settlement, and collect them before they exit.
Weisgan fired 5-6 rounds of live ammunition at each Palestinian worker from a close ran, then he began to run out of the factory chasing an Arab worker.
One of the Palestinian workers, who knew Asher very well, was injured and told him “Asher, what are you doing?!, but then Asher turned towards the worker and fired more rounds but the rounds missed him.
After conducting his crime, the settlers went to the factory and opened fired at a worker who was still there and injured him in his chest and head.
A few minutes after carrying his crime, the settler stepped out of the factory and turned himself to a security officer.
Israeli media: “Jewish terrorist convicted of killing four Palestinians”
Saed Bannour – IMEMC & Agencies – Monday, 11 September 2006, 19:41
Israeli media sources reported that an Israeli settler was found guilty of killing four Palestinians in an attempt to foil that Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip, and four settlements in the West Bank last year, during the implementation of the disengagement plan. The settler was tried at the Jerusalem District Court on Monday.
The settler was identified as Asher Weisgan, 38, of Shvut Rachel settlement in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli news paper Jerusalem Post said on its online edition that Weisgan had called for the assassination of the former Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon.
A psychiatrist who examined Weisgan at court order, found him mentally fit to stand for trial, the Jerusalem post added.
The attack took place August 2005 when Weisgan grabbed a gun from a security guard after the later asked him for a drink of water, and opened fire at Palestinian workers from a close range. Three were killed instantly while the fourth died of his wounds at Hadassah Ein Karem university hospital in Jerusalem.
The attack took place near the Israeli settlement of Shilo, in the northern part of the West Bank.
The court indictment said that the assailant shot each of the victims, whom he knew well, five or six times. He also refilled his cartridge before his shot the last victim, the indictment reads.
Weisgan also went after a fifth victim who was still at work and repeatedly shot him from a close range in order to verify that he was dead. After the attack, the settler turned himself into the settlement guard.
As he lay injured, one of the wounded Arab victims, who was bleeding from a bullet that skimmed his face, shouted at the attacker "Asher what are you doing?" the charge sheet relates, only to be met by another hail of bullets, which narrowly missed him.
The court will set a date for sentencing Weisgan.
Four killed in Shilo terrorist attack, four injured
Saed Bannoura – IMEMC & Agencies – Wednesday, 17 August 2005, 18:24
An Israeli medical source reported that a fourth Palestinian resident died of wounds sustained after an extremist settler opened fire at Palestinian workers in the industrial area of the northern west Bank settlement of Shilo.
The resident died of his wounds at Hadassah University Hospital in Ein Karem – Jerusalem, while a fifth resident is still in a critical condition.
The terrorist Asher Weisgan, a 38-year-old driver from Shvut Rahel settlement, in the West Bank used to transport the workers to and from the industrial zone on daily basis.
On Wednesday afternoon, he was driving the workers home, and stopped on the way out to ask a security guard for a cup of water, and then he grabbed the gun of the security guard and fired at the workers.
Senior army officials said that they expect prominent rabbis in the West Bank to issue a clear statement condemning the attack.
Settler terror hits again; three Palestinians killed, four injured
Saed Bannoura – IMEMC & Agencies, Wednesday, 17 August 2005
An Israeli extremist killed three Palestinians and seriously wounded four others on Wednesday afternoon, when he opened fire at a group of Palestinian workers in the industrial zone of the West Bank settlement of Shiloh east of Jerusalem, Israeli military sources reported.
According to initial reports, the settler apparently snatched the weapon of a security guard in the settlement and shot the workers; the settler was apprehended by the Israeli security.
“The settler abducted the weapon from a guard and killed two Palestinians at a car”, a security guard told the Israeli radio, “then he went back to the guard, drank water, and fired again at a group of workers, killing another one, and seriously injuring two others”.
The Israeli Radio reported that the assailant, identified as 40-year-old Asher Weisgan, from the settlement of Shvut Rahel, north of Ramallah in the West Bank.
Zaki Heller, service official at the Israeli Magen David Adom ambulance, said that ambulances and intensive care units were dispatched at the shooting site in addition to a military helicopter, and transferred the injured residents to Hadassah Ein-Karem hospital in Jerusalem.
This is the second attack against Palestinians by Israeli gunmen in less than two weeks.
On August 4, 2005, a settler-soldier opened fire on board a bus heading to Arab town of Shfa-Amr in Israel, killing four Arab residents and injuring at least 15 others.
The victims of the terrorist attack were identified as two sisters, Hazar 23, and Deena Torkey, 21, Nader Hayek, 55, and Michael Bahhouth, 56 years old.
The assailant, Natan-Zada was a military deserter residing in Tapoah settlement, in the West Bank; the settlement is slated for evacuation under the disengagement plan. Some sources said the soldier who carried out the bus attack was dispatched from one of the settlements near Jenin in the West Bank slated for evacuation under the disengagement plan, which begun on August 15.
