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.

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.

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.

[4] Luken 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 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.

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.

[5][6][7][8][9] 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, Ayad Fatfata and Kifah Ghanimat, approaching them and were suspicious of their intentions.

Wilson instructed Luken to feign an epileptic attack and told their assailants that they were part of a tour group that would soon be returning.

I tried to get up three times and fell down, I deviated from the path and couldn't find my way, and it was very difficult for me to breathe, but I had to make a switch in my head and think positive."

With her hands still bound behind her back, Wilson staggered barefoot and bleeding heavily from multiple stab wounds for more than 1,200 meters until reaching a parking lot where a family alerted the authorities.

Due to Wilson stabbing one of the attackers with a small penknife, the DNA on her knife led to the capture of a terror cell.

[10] Police and border officials organized a large hunt for Luken, combing the forests around Beit Shemesh.

[14] A memorial service for Kristine Luken was held at the Christ Church in the Old City in Jerusalem, with around 100 people attending.

After tying the victim's hands, Kifah had raped her at knifepoint in a cave near the Beit Jamal monastery.

[19] For the murder of Neta Sorek, Kifah's brother, Ibrahim Ghanimat, received a life sentence and 16 additional years in prison and was also convicted on further charges including car theft and unlawful entry into Israel.

[22] Kay Wilson helped found and grow the organization Yellow Brick Road, whose purpose is "to promote the concepts of personal, social and environmental responsibility" via an after-school program in Palestinian refugee camps.

In an interview in 2020, Wilson explained, "By me owning, directing and limiting my rage towards only the guilty and not blaming everyone, I have become friends with many Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians.