Senior IDF officers on Thursday lambasted the legal system's inability to effectively crack down on radical West Bank settlers after a group of young far-right activists went on a rampage that culminated in an attack on an IDF position near Ramallah.
A masked settler seen waving an Israeli flag on a rooftop in Hebron (illustrative).
Photo: AP [file]
Late Wednesday night, some 40 activists arrived at an IDF position - manned by reservists - near the settlement of Talmon, just west of Ramallah. The activists attacked the reservists, tried to enter the post and damaged the pipe system that carries water to the base. The reservists tried to fend off the attackers, who called the soldiers "Nazis."
Earlier in the day, soldiers clashed with settlers near the settlement of Yitzhar, south of Nablus, after they began throwing rocks at passing Palestinian cars.
In the Binyamin Region, settlers attacked officials from the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria who had arrived at the illegal Yad Yair outpost to confiscate equipment that was allegedly being used for illegal construction.
Two soldiers were wounded in the clashes - one with a fracture in his hand. The other soldier was treated at the scene after a settler's dog bit him after being ordered to attack by his owner. The IDF also said that settlers had punctured tires on a car belonging to the civil administration.
Sources in the IDF Central Command said the incidents were severe and that together with the Judea and Samaria Police the army planned to apprehend and press charges against all of the "provocateurs."
The IDF, one officer said, recently held a one-day conference together with the police to try to come up with ways to stop settler violence. According to the officer, in most cases the settlers involved in such clashes were either not apprehended or were released from police custody without being indicted.
"They have crossed a red line," one officer said. "The legal system needs to come up with ways to curb this unfortunate, growing phenomenon."
Binymain Regional Council head Avi Roeh said that the violence damaged the good relations the settler community was trying to forge with the IDF.
"What happened near Talmon should not have happened and is the type of incident that damages our excellent relations with the military," Roeh said.
