Kristine Luken was an American Christian who was murdered in a Palestinian terrorist attack on December 18, 2010, while hiking with her friend Kay Wilson in the hills of Jerusalem. Despite multiple stab wounds, Wilson survived the attack; Luken's body was later found by Israeli police, bound and stabbed to death. The Palestinian terror cell that perpetrated the attack were later arrested. During the investigation, the cell members also confessed to the murder of Neta Sorek, whose stabbed body had been found earlier that year near the Beit Jimal Monastery in the Judean Hills. The Palestinian terrorists were convicted of a series of violent crimes.
Murder of Neta Sorek
Background
Neta Sorek (), aged 53, grew up in Israel at Kibbutz Afikim. She later moved to Sweden and then to the United States, but after two decades abroad, she returned to Israel, married and had a daughter. She had worked as an English–language teacher in Zikhron Ya'akov for 13 years and was a member of the feminist group Women for Peace, participating in joint Arab-Jewish projects. Her family said she believed in co-existence; she studied Arabic and met with Arab women from villages in northern Israel. In love with nature, she regularly walked outdoors.
On the day of the attack Sorek was on a vacation in small guest house located near the Beit Jimal Monastery. Shortly after she reached the site she headed out for a walk around the monastery, where she was murdered.
The attack
On 24 February 2010, members of a Palestinian terrorist cell illegally infiltrated into Israel from Surif, a Palestinian Authority-controlled area, through gaps in the security barrier near Betar Illit. They burgled a house and stole a car from Beit Shemesh and then drove to the Beit Jimal Monastery, waiting for nightfall to make their return to Surif. At the monastery, they spotted Sorek walking alone in the monastery gardens and decided to murder her. They stabbed her to death and fled the vicinity in their stolen car.
Sorek's family were informed several hours later that she had not returned to the place where she was staying. The police were alerted and the Beit Shemesh police station began to investigate her disappearance. Dissatisfied with the police efforts, her family began to search for Neta by themselves. They knew that she had visited the monastery and approximated her whereabouts; eventually, her cousin and two friends discovered her body. Initially the police suspected a suicide but, after an autopsy was conducted, results showed her death was caused as a result of foul play. An investigation was launched to find Neta's murderers.
Murder of Kristine Luken
Background
Luken, aged 44, was an American citizen and a member of the Church's Ministry among Jewish people (CMJ), a Christian group based in the United States and the UK. She was born in Texas and lived for many years in Virginia while working for the US Department of Education before leaving to work for CMJ. She had recently moved to Nottingham, England, where she worked as a ministry staffer. She had first visited Israel in 2007 as part of a Christian pilgrimage to holy sites and she described the tour as furthering her religious understanding and deepening her relationship with God. Luken met Kay Wilson, a British-born Israeli citizen, in August 2010 on a trip to Poland where Wilson was guiding. They visited death camps and Jewish community centers. They became friends and Luken, a keen hiker, and Wilson, a professional Israeli tour guide, decided to go hiking together in Israel during the Christmas holiday.
Attack
On Saturday afternoon, 18 December 2010, Luken and Wilson were hiking in the Mata forest, near the town of Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem. They noticed two Arab men, Aiad Fatfata and Kifah Ghanimat, approaching them and were suspicious of their intentions. The men attacked them armed with a long serrated knife. The women attempted to fight back, Wilson managing to stab an attacker with a pocketknife, before they were subdued. The men stole their money and removed Wilson's necklace. Wilson recalled: "I didn't understand whether they wanted to rape us or mug us. They removed my Star of David. I tried to convince them we weren't Jewish."