Jailed father of terror victim won't visit son in hospital

Ofer Gamliel, the jailed father of Yair Gamliel, who was wounded in the Bat Ayin terror attack, on Thursday refused to visit his son in the hospital accompanied by prison guards.

The Prison Service on Thursday said it would allow Gamliel to visit his son with wardens chaperoning him and without handcuffs. Gamliel ? who was sentenced seven years ago for participating in a plot to attack a Palestinian girls' school ? demanded to be released temporarily in order to visit his son.

Yair Gamliel, 7, was one of two victims of Thursday's terror attack at the West Bank settlement of Bat Ayin. The two boys were set upon by an axe-wielding man who is thought to have fled the area following the attack.

The second victim, a 13-year-old who was killed in the attack, has been identified as Shlomo Nativ, the son of Haim and Ravital Nativ, one of the original settlers who founded Bat Ayin, a community of secular-cum-religious Jews.

Ofer Gamliel is currently serving a prison sentence for his involvement in the 'Bat Ayin underground,' which had planned to carry out an attack several years ago at a girls' school in the A-Tor neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

The 'Bat Ayin underground' was active in the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the early years of the Second Intifada.

In April 2002, police arrested Shlomo Dvir, Yarden Morag and Ofer Gamliel, 'Bat Ayin underground' members, who were later convicted of attempting to place an explosive device near the East Jerusalem school.

Morag and Gamliel were sentenced to 15 years each, while Dvir was sentenced to 12 years. Additional Bat Ayin residents were arrested and convicted in connection to the attempted attack.

Gamliel, 47, is a carpenter and father of seven children.

Six months ago, he went on a hunger strike to protest the conditions in jail.

Last October, Interior Minister Eli Yishai asked President Shimon Peres to intervene on behalf of Gamliel and his associates to improve the conditions of their imprisonment.

	Ofer Gamliel, father of Yair Gamliel, who was wounded in the Bat Ayin attack.
	Photo by: (Eyal Warshavsky / BauBau)