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UPDATED Jan 6, 2013

Girl was wounded last October in Psagot, north of Jerusalem; Shin Bet, IDF disagree over motive for attack.

By Gili Cohen for Haaretz

A man from the Palestinian village of El Bireh has confessed to the stabbing of a 9-year-old girl in the West Bank settlement of Psagot four months ago.

The suspect is 21-year-old Abdullah Abu Kabita, who was arrested by the Israel Defense Forces last week based on police intelligence. The victim, 9-year-old Noam Glick, survived the attack with light injuries; it had not been immediately clear if she was stabbed or shot.

The news of the arrest was approved for publication Monday.

Abu Kabita, who confessed during questioning by the Shin Bet security service, said he had planned to break into the home in Psagot to steal weapons, which he said were for resolving a private dispute. The Shin Bet believes Abu Kamita, but the IDF says his actions amounted to a terror attack.

According to Col. Yossi Pinto, commander of the IDF’s Binyamin Brigade, Abu Kabita “infiltrated a point chosen in advance and reached the home farthest from it, the Glicks’ home, where he stabbed the little girl twice.”

The incident in Psagot was reenacted this week. According to investigators, a few hours before the attack, Abu Kabita reached the settlement with his friend, Shabel Karan, 19, who has also been arrested and questioned. Abu Kabita cut the fence and approached the house, but retreated when a car approached.

Later that night — Saturday October 5 — Abu Kabita returned to Psagot, this time on his own. He entered through the hole in the fence and approached the farthest house in the community. As the 9-year-old was returning home she encountered Abu Kabita, who, according to the Shin Bet, “was taken by surprise, stabbed the little girl in the shoulder and fled back toward Ramallah.”

The State Prosecutor’s Office will soon prepare an indictment against all suspects in the attack.
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by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News Oct 5, 2012

Late Saturday night, a nine-year old girl was shot and injured while standing outside her home in the Israeli settlement of Psagot, located next to the Palestinian village of el-Bireh, in the central West Bank.

The child, identified as Noam Glick, was taken to an Israeli hospital, where she is listed in stable condition. She was hit by a single shot fired from a homemade weapon. The weapon was left by the assailant at the scene.

The assailant has not been apprehended, and Israeli police say they have no leads in the case. But the Israeli military has stormed the village of El Bireh and surrounding areas in the hours since the attack, and have detained and interrogated a number of residents.

Like in the shooting of an Israeli solider two weeks ago, the police and military intelligence say they had no advance warning that an attack was going to take place.

The police say this was likely an unplanned attack by a single, probably mentally unstable, assailant who acted without coordination with any armed resistance.

Following the wounding of the child, Israeli settlers stormed al-Jalazun refugee camp north of Ramallah and began throwing stones at villagers, and vandalizing Palestinian cars.