Rallies held around country in response to Itamar attacks

Scattered violence reported throughout West Bank; settler leader: "People shouldn't take the law into their own hands."

By MELANIE LIDMAN
Settler Protests 311 (photo credit: marc israel selem)
Settler Protests 311
(photo credit: marc israel selem)
Hundreds of demonstrators at major intersections across the country on Sunday evening chanted “Revenge! Revenge!” and waved national flags in response to Friday’s attack in Itamar in which terrorists killed five members of the Fogel family.
No demonstrators were arrested and no roads were blocked, police said.
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The protests were organized by My Israel under the slogan “We are all Israeli, We are all settlers.”
“I came to demonstrate because they’re spilling Jewish blood, and instead of taking care of the terrorists, they’re wasting their energy demolishing homes in Gilad Farms,” Jerusalem resident Moshe Meron said at a protest at the entrance to the capital.
He was joined by about 100 other demonstrators. Many had come straight from the funeral for the five Fogels in the Givat Shaul cemetery.
There were scattered reports of violence in the West Bank.
Palestinians from Hawara, south of Nablus, threw rocks at a bus carrying Itamar residents back to their homes following the funeral service. Light damage was caused to the bus when the Palestinians attempted to stop it, though the driver was able to evade them and continue driving.
Palestinian sources reported a few instances of “price tag” attacks by settlers, including five cars in the Nablus area that were set on fire. Dozens of young settlers threw rocks at Hawara, about 7 km. away from Itamar.
“Police have heightened general security to make sure that we would minimize or be prepared for demonstrations that could take place,” said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.
He said the main concern of the police over the past 24 hours was not the demonstrations but ensuring the safety of the thousands of people who attended the funeral. Twenty thousand came, creating large traffic jams across the capital.
“I understand people are frustrated.
I am frustrated too, a little child’s head was decapitated,” said David Ha’ivri, executive director of the Shomron Liason Office. “But I don’t think people should take the law into their own hands, though I know people need to vent their rage.”
Ha’ivri also called on Defense Minister Ehud Barak to resign following the murders, accusing him of “exploiting and exhausting his powers in the Ministry of Defense to exercise his political agenda of fighting Jewish residents in Judea and Samaria.”
The Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip, the umbrella activist organization that includes the Shomron Liason Office, caused a stir on Sunday by releasing gruesome photos of the murder scene, including the bloodied bodies of the children.
Ha’ivri said he had “mixed feelings” about the decision to share the photos with the public.
Perhaps “people just have to see how terrible it is,” he said.