Settler arrested in failed rocket attack on Palestinian town

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Police said Sunday they have arrested a settler suspected of involvement in a failed rocket attack on a Palestinian village in the West Bank.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that police arrested Gilad Herman, a student at a Jewish seminary in the settlement of Yitzhar.

Herman had been wanted for questioning since the attempt last month to launch a home-built rocket at the neighboring village of Burin, but apparently had gone into hiding.

Rosenfeld said Herman was arrested at Yitzhar on Saturday, in connection with the house-to-house search that took place about a month ago for weapons.

The projectile failed to reach its target and nobody was harmed, although the sound of the blast triggered a sweep of the area by Israeli security forces who initially believed a Palestinian attack on settlers was in progress."

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[World Citizen]

1. there must be some mistake...

Israelis never do anything wrong

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Stuff like this makes me wonder...

How many attacks might be rockets launched by some of those settlers, to stir the pot.

[azurnoir]

3. Not the ones from Gaza

no Israeli's there*, however most of the rockets being launched since the cease fire are launched by Fatah associated groups, something that was rarely heard of since the June '07 Hamas takeover.

*donning asbestos suit here:

2 things small possibility that they could be launched from border area's north of Gaza where there are settlers and I remember reading here awhile back about remote control launched Kassams, but neither has ever been mentioned or proven.

[Vegasaurus]

7. From the kibbutzes? Those evil, warmongers! nt

[azurnoir]

13. Glad I can always count on you

except where did I mention kibbutz's? Don't think I did any Israeli can travel freely in the WB, they even have their very own roads to do that on.

[Sezu]

4. Isreal arrests 'em Palestine idolizes them. n/t

[LeftishBrit]

6. Hamas have recently been threatening to arrest terrorists...

hope they do!

[azurnoir]

8. Actually they have been more than threatening

several articles in jpost, Haaretz, and ynet over the past week.

[Behind the Aegis]

9. Arrests have been made? Fantastic!

You have links?

[azurnoir]

11. Check for yourself, but you won't sooooo

here is a list

Hamas has arrested four members of the Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades for firing rockets at Israel or trying to do so, a Hamas member said on Friday.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3566977,00.html

Hamas arrested two gunmen who fired rockets towards the Negev from the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the first such arrest since the organization signed a truce with Israel last month.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3566711,00.html

jpost charges for past articles, but here is a list

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/results.html?QryTxt=hamas%20arrests

Haaretz according to site search I did on Haaretz the truce has not been mentioned since the end of May nearly a month prior to the actual truce, I find this odd but maybe they're behind

came up empty handed on Haaretz so for sh*ts and giggles tried arutz sheva

An organization of several Gaza Arab merchants was behind last week’s mortar attack on Israel, according to Hamas. The group has arrested several of the attackers, reacting to what the terrorist organization calls an attempt to hijack its shaky truce with Israel.

An earlier report described last week’s attack as the personal initiative of a sunflower seed merchant acting on his own, but a recent tip from a Hamas source in Gaza has revealed the attack to be the work of an organized group. Hamas is reportedly working to enforce their cease-fire with Israel, and as part of its crackdown on truce violators has arrested at least seven people in connection with the incident.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/126717

[Behind the Aegis]

12. As I said. Fantastic.

Nice to see you actually did some research and posted something accurate. Very refreshing. And, good for Hamas for finally following though.

[azurnoir]

15. LOL refreshing?

so this means either you knew all along or I read Israeli papers pretty regularly and you don't? OK not arutz sheva

[Behind the Aegis]

16. Oh I knew.

Just wanted to see if you actually knew or were guessing. Still, as much as I read Israeli publications, I never saw 'several' arrests. I did see a few. But good to know you are actually checking your facts.

[azurnoir]

17. Good to see you admit

that you will try call me on facts you already know to be true. LOL i will remember that one.

[Behind the Aegis]

20. So, I guess one can assume when you can't follow up with links, then it is...

...just 'facts' you happen to know.

[azurnoir]

22. You fail to distinguish between

unable and unwilling, depending on who and how I am asked and the "challenger is unwilling to prove his own challenge but will simply sit back and make base accusations or imply that my statements are false, especially when that poster in all likely hood knows other wise, but feel free to assume what you want.

[Violet_Crumble]

18. It'll be even more refreshing to see you follow the lead! n/t

[Behind the Aegis]

21. LOL!

:rofl:

:P

[subsuelo]

10. Glad we're not making thoughtless, overly broad generalizations around here n/t

[Scurrilous]

23. Law Enforcement upon Israeli Civilians in the OPT(July 2008):

<snip>

"The investigations by the Samaria and Judea (SJ) District Police of offenses by Israeli civilians
against Palestinians and their property are met with little success. The findings of a Yesh Din
study published in the report “A Semblance of Law: Law Enforcement upon Israeli Civilians in
the West Bank” (hereinafter: "A Semblance of Law") in June 2006 revealed that some 90% of
the SJ District Police investigations into such offenses ended in failure: investigation files
were closed on the grounds of "lack of evidence" and "perpetrator unknown," and in some
cases complaints were filed and lost and thus never investigated. Along with significant
structural problems, including the dependence of police investigators upon IDF escorts in
order to reach certain crime scenes, the inadequate manpower at the SJ District, and the
lack of trust by Palestinians of the Israeli Police, Yesh Din has identified recurring patterns of
defects and failures in investigations.

Among the main defects noted were: victims' complaints and testimonies were recorded in
Hebrew rather than Arabic, the language in which they were given; the police investigators
rarely visited the crime scenes, and in the cases when they did arrive on site, defects were
noted in documenting the events; in many cases testimony was not collected from key
witnesses, including suspects and both Palestinian and Israeli eyewitnesses of the incident;
live identification lineups of Israeli civilian suspects were hardly ever carried out;
confrontations between victims and suspects were also rarely staged; in none of the
investigation files checked by Yesh Din, in which the suspects offered claims of an alibi, were
their claims verified before the case was closed; the contents of about one third of the
investigation files were very sparse, and indicated a hasty closure of the case shortly after
the complaint was received; in a number of cases a decision was made to close the
investigation, even though the material accumulated in the case file indicated sufficient
prima facie evidence to prosecute the suspects; and an examination of cases closed on
grounds of "no criminal culpability" raised questions about the decision to close cases on
those grounds, given that the closure was executed on the basis of insufficient
investigations.

Based upon updated figures from Yesh Din's monitoring, this Data Sheet shows that the
extent of the failure on the part of the SJ District Police to investigate offenses committed by Israeli civilians against Palestinians remains: 9 out of 10 cases are closed without filing an
indictment."

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[LeftishBrit]

5. Glad he's been arrested!

[azurnoir]

14. It was this part that said it for me

In 2006, the Israel Defense Forces withdrew troops stationed at Yitzhar for its protection, citing repeated settler attacks on soldiers and destruction of military equipment.

even IDF couldn't handle them?

[Violet_Crumble]

19. Good. I hope they treat him as the terrorist he is... n/t

[Scurrilous]

24. Yitzhar settlers riot in West Bank

Residents of West Bank settlement clash with IDF, Judea and Samaria police officers, as reports of violent acts stream in from Adi-Ad outpost, village of Burin, Shilo Junction

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3572726,00.html

<snip>

"A series of violent incidents involving settlers swept through the West Bank Thursday, as dozens of settlers clashed with IDF and police forces, stoned cars and vandalized Palestinian property.

The gravest incident of the day occurred in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar, when during the riot a settler was able to snatch a weapon away from an IDF soldier standing next to him and began firing in midair. A second settler began firing in midair as well. No injuries or damage were reported; both men were arrested.

Earlier Thursday, the Judea and Samaria Police received reports of settlers rioting in the West Bank village of Burin, near Nablus.

According to Palestinian reports, some 150 settlers attacked Palestinian farmers in the village, damaging crops and property. "This is a full fledged pogrom against the (Palestinian) residents here," a local Palestinian farmer told Ynet, adding that "the IDF soldiers are seeing all this happen and are doing nothing."

Earlier still, Judea and Samaria police officers, who arrived at the illegal West Bank outpost of Adi-Ad to investigate building violations, found themselves in the midst of a riot, as residents of the nearby Yitzhar settlement began stoning their cars.

One of the cars sustained some damage; none of the officers were hurt and the riot was dispersed.

In a third incident, 20 other settlers reportedly made their way to the Shilo Junction – on Highway 60 – in the West Bank, where they blocked the road by setting several tires on fire."

[Scurrilous]

25. Settler holds knife to IDF soldier's throat in West Bank riot

<snip>

"A settler attacked an Israel Defense Forces soldier at the West Bank outpost of Havat Gilad Thursday afternoon, holding a knife to the soldier's throat and forcibly removing his helmet from his head. The attacker then fled the scene.

The incident occurred during a confrontation between settlers and Israeli soldiers in the area, west of Nablus.

Other settlers at Havat Gilad set Palestinian olive groves on fire, sparking several field fires.

Earlier Thursday, Palestinian security officials said that more than 20 settlers had attacked another Palestinian village in the West Bank, Burin, smashing cars and windows and cutting electricity wires.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, however, said settlers never entered the village itself although there were scuffles between Palestinians and Israelis outside Burin on the road to the nearby settlement of Yitzhar.

When police and soldiers intervened to restore order, a settler snatched a soldier's gun and fired in the air before being disarmed and arrested, Rosenfeld and the military said.

No injuries were immediately reported in the violence."

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[Violet_Crumble]

26. From the article...

'Yitzhar is a known hotbed of ultranationalist Israelis who believe that the West Bank is part of the biblical land of Israel promised to the Jewish people by God. They oppose any concessions to the Palestinians.

An instructor at the seminary was arrested in 2006 on suspicion of inciting violence against Arabs."

The Israeli govt needs to immediately move these fanatics back to Israel and ban them from entering the West Bank. I'm guessing the reason they attack troops and snatch weapons off them is because they see (sometimes correctly) the IDF as being nothing more than their own personal protectors who are there to arrest or send away anyone who gets in the way of their rampages and destruction...

[pelsar]

27. this is actually good...

the IDF has for so long let the Settlers run wild for fear of causing a tear in the fabric of the society (see hamas/fatah for one example)..and the settlers in turn have kept their own terrorism within certain bounds.....by actually attacking the IDF...and worse attacking reserve soldiers, they are crossing the lines.....reserve soldiers will simply not serve if its means been attacked by settlers and having no real means to protect themselves (all hell will break lose if a reserve solider shoots a settler-no matter what the reason-his life will be turned upside down).

those attacks if they continue will result in the settlers losing even the passive support they have now......

[Violet_Crumble]

28. I've found a news report that says the settlers were the innocent victim punching bags of the IDF...

Judea/Samaria Jews Talk Tough: ‘We are not IDF’s Punching Bag'

(IsraelNN.com) Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria lashed out Thursday at their treatment by the Israeli Defense Forces after a day of tense clashes in those regions, promising to exact a ‘price’ in response to the IDF’s physical aggression, refusal to protect them, and above all the way the IDF treats them in the media.

"We're not the IDF's punching bag," they proclaimed in a statement from the Binyamin-area ‘Homesh First’ activist headquarters, referring to several instances throughout the day when the army spokesperson’s office accused Jewish civilians of violently attacking soldiers. The civilians were vehemently denying that they assaulted any troops, and some of them plan to sue the army for libel.

Confrontations broke out Thursday in several locations between local Jewish residents and Israeli armed forces, in which the IDF was sent in to forcibly remove Jewish residents from their homes. The first incident of the day occurred at 11 a.m., when Yasam special police forces conducted a raid on the outpost of Adei Ad, near Shiloh in Samaria, and carted away a bus that was being used as living quarters.

The Binyamin activist headquarters said in response that if the security forces continue to harass Jewish pioneers in the existing communities, they will have to deal with the pioneers in new locations as well.

In another confrontation at Adei Ad, two Jewish men were arrested by Israeli forces after one of them snatched a rifle from a soldier and fired it into the air. IDF spokesmen described the incident as another violent act committed by ‘settlers,’ and denied any wrongdoing in the incident. The civilian involved in the incident claimed that he took the weapon to save his life from Arab assailants, while the soldiers did nothing to protect him.

Homesh First said the man who took the gun was an air-conditioning technician from Jerusalem who was travelling with a passenger from the town of Kedumim to Itamar in Samaria. The two were attacked by dozens of Arabs who pelted his car with rocks and then attempted to extract him from the car to lynch him. Panic-stricken, he ran to a group of IDF soldiers standing nearby who refused to do anything. Desperate for the soldiers to do their job, he gave up trying to convince them, took the weapon of one of the soldiers, fired in the air and then gave it back. It remains unclear whether the civilian took the rifle forcibly or the soldier agreed to let the civilian use it.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/126958

Arutz Sheva's 'reporting' is always good for a bit of a laugh...

[Violet_Crumble]

29. Do the settlers really have all that much passive support from Israelis?

To causea tear in the fabric of society they'd have to have a high level of support, and i didn't think they had that. I remember there were dire predictions of a great rift being caused by the removal of settlers from Gaza, but it never happened...

[pelsar]

30. maybe not passive support.. (poor choice of words)

more like indifference....i would guess most dont care and those who do..when push comes to shove, wont do anything to support them......as in the gaza pullout. The protests against were embarrassing in their low turnout. And these incidents and many others will in the end turn middle israel against them.....

[Violet_Crumble]

32. Yeah, indifference is what I thought the prevailing sentiment was...

I'm guessing that the settlers overly hysterical and obviously BS claims about the troops in the article I posted are a clumsy attempt to try to limit the PR damage done in this case. Though I can't imagine threatening to sue the IDF for libel will win them any sympathy. I've never thought about it before, but I'm wondering if a civilian can even sue their own military for libel. It'd be like suing a government department for libel, and at least over here I don't know of that ever having happened...

[Scurrilous]

31. IDF officers: Yeshiva teachers incite W. Bank teens to violence

<snip>

"Students at extremist yeshivas in West Bank settlements have been involved in a large number of violent confrontations with security forces there recently and in throwing stones at Palestinian cars, say military sources. Senior Israel Defense Forces officers are reportedly furious over the lack of effective legal measures against rioters and because the government is taking no steps against yeshiva teachers who incite to violence.

The officers' remarks followed last Thursday's wave of unrest in which settlers in the area used beepers to call residents to the roads to attack Palestinian cars and confront security forces. The settlers' move followed the destruction of a structure at the outpost of Adei Ad.

This is not the first such reaction in recent months. The intent is to "extract a price" and create a kind of balance of fear vis-a-vis the security forces. Each time an outpost is evacuated or even a single structure in one is destroyed and settlers do not have enough time to mount significant opposition, they will respond somewhere else so as to harass the security forces and make clear that such acts will lead to general escalation in the area.

Security forces have determined that students from the Od Yosef Hai yeshiva in Yitzhar (formerly located at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus) are taking an active role in the violence. Students from the yeshiva in the Gilad Farm outpost and the girls high school in the settlement of Ma'aleh Levona are also said to be involved.

"This is a regular method," a senior officer told Haaretz. "When they want to riot, they stop classes and send the students in an organized fashion onto the roads. The frustrating side of all this is that teachers are involved. These are government employees."

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[Scurrilous]

33. Yitzhar teen arrested for allegedly attacking Palestinian family

<snip>

"Police on Sunday arrested a teenager from the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar who allegedly hurled rocks at a Palestinian car over the weekend.

The youth, 16, has not confessed to involvement, but has admitted to being on the scene at the time of the incident.

Mali Ma'ali and her 7-year-old daughter Hadeel were wounded Friday when unknown assailants hurled rocks and a brick at their car as it was passing the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar.

Security officials in the area told Haaretz the incident is severe, and they would investigate suspicions that the assailants are settlers who live in the area.

Local authorities in the area of Judea and Samaria where the incident took place met with police Friday to demand they bring the assailants to justice."

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[Vegasaurus]

34. Israeli youth are arrested for such attacks

Palestinian youths are celebrated and get candies and recognition for attacks on Israelis.

Therein lies one of the cultural differences.

[Scurrilous]

35. IDF to boost presence near settlements to deter attacks on Palestinians

<snip>

"Israeli security forces have decided to increase their presence along West Bank settlement routes, in light of recent settler attacks on Palestinians in the area.

The decision was made after settlers last week hurled a brick at a Palestinian car traveling near the Yitzhar settlement, wounding a woman and her 7-year-old daughter."

<snip>

"Haaretz has learned that defense authorities in the West Bank sector have instructed the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Police to be on special alert near Yitzhar, as well as near the southern Mount Hebron settlements of Havat Gilad, Adei Ad and Maon, in southern Moutn

"We have clarified and redefined our activities along these routes, in light of recent events. The brick thrown at the Palestinian family's car was just one in a string of events apparently stemming from the side of right-wing activists against the Palestinian population," said a security source in the West Bank."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1008725.html