IDF soldiers did not run away during a confrontation with Palestinian rioters
who were trying to attack the settlement of Kedumim in Samaria last Friday, an
internal inquiry has found.
The security force showed initiative, and
succeeded in their main task, to prevent rioters from reaching the settlement,
but did not succeed in their secondary task of making arrests, despite trying to
do so, a senior army source said Thursday. The IDF took a forgiving view of
operational mistakes made while seizing the initiative, he added.
Army
sources said a Palestinian video of the confrontation, uploaded to YouTube, was
edited and scenes were cut out to give the impression of soldiers running away.
In fact, the sources said, the video contained images from three separate stages
of the disturbances.
A small group of IDF soldiers had been pursing
rioters with the intention of arresting them, but did not succeed in catching
them, according to the inquiry.
Two soldiers left a larger force that was
situated on a hill overlooking the riot, and ran towards the mob to make
arrests. The larger force, made up of Engineering Corps soldiers and Border
Police, had been deployed to deal with weekly disturbances in the
area.
“A sergeant who tried to make arrests didn’t succeed. He
tried again, unsuccessfully, and decided to disengage,” a senior army source
said.
The inquiry found that the soldiers had acted correctly throughout
the incident, and that they did not run away.
The sergeant’s decision to
disengage was correct, the inquiry found.
At no point did the soldiers
feel that their lives were in danger, and did not seek permission to use live
fire, a source added, countering charges made in recent days that soldiers
facing West Bank riots were failing to take assertive action due to fear of
prosecution.