As negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians continue in Washington, D.C., despite two terrorist attacks in as many days, Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria are lamenting an apparent return to the darkest days of violence.

A day after friends and family of Beit Hagai residents Yitzchak and Talia Imas, Kochava Even-Chaim, and Avishai Shindler buried the victims of an ambush on the popular Highway 60, Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Viktor Atia reported that people feel somewhat queasy about travelling the vital artery, which links the northern and southern interior sections of the West Bank to Jerusalem.

“It feels a little weird to travel on the road now, but we have no choice,” explained Atia, director of Chabad of Kiryat Arba near Hebron. “It’s the only way out of here.”

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In the Aug. 31 attack, gunmen riddled the Beit Hagai residents’ car with bullets as it passed the Bani Nayim junction, located between the communities of Pene Hever and Kiryat Arba. Hamas claimed responsibility for the ambush, which left seven children orphaned.

Barely 24 hours later, terrorists struck on the highway once again, this time between the Rimonim junction and the community of Kochav HaShachar, in the Binyamin region of Samaria about 15 minutes north of the capital.

Rabbi Moshe and Shira Morena were wounded in the attack when Hamas and Fatah-linked operatives opened fire around 11:00 p.m. The two Jordan Valley residents escaped after their car overturned and tumbled into a ditch, allowing them to flee into a nearby wadi until the gunmen left the scene.

Hamas later issued a statement warning that the attacks would continue and declaring its opposition to the direct negotiations taking place between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. In the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, authorities distributed candy and sweets in the street to celebrate the attacks.

Hitting the Road

On Friday afternoon, the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem issued a Warden Message to American citizens in Israel, warning them of weekend travel along the Highway 60 corridor and on the West Bank sections of Highways 1 and 90, as well.

“Due to heightened tensions,” read the statement, “the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem has prohibited all Consulate personnel from personal travel in the West Bank.”

The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv likewise indicated that its personnel would be bound by the new policy.

But even as Israelis and visitors cancelled trips to the region, residents of the West Bank were preparing themselves for a life many had hoped had ended. One resident of Gush Etzion named Esther remarked wryly that she had actually grown somewhat complacent because the road seemed so much safer in the past few months.

“What a mistake that was,” she said.

In Hebron and Kiryat Arba, Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries were working to shore up the community’s spiritual defenses. Under the direction of Atia, Rabbis Danny Cohen, Yosef Nachshon and Menachem Porter, have been checking residents’ mezuzahs and Jewish prayer boxes known as tefillin, as well as counseling and encouraging members of the Israel Defense Force stationed in the area.

“We are not a government, so we cannot take concrete, material actions when terrorists carry out an attack,” said Atia. “But what we can do is to fight with spiritual tools.”

As for travelling, Atia said that sometimes, prayer is a person’s last line of defense.

“It’s not so comfortable, but we have to keep going,” he explained. “We say a special travelers’ prayer and we move on. This is our place.”