Security forces raze three structures near Yitzhar

The Civil Administration had two wooden buildings demolished recently because they were built illegally. The forces demolishing the buildings were violently attacked by Hilltop Youth.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF, TOVAH LAZAROFF
Security forces seen patroling the area around Yitzhar, Ocotber 24 2019
Security forces demolished three illegally built structures at the Shevah Haaretz outpost near Yitzhar on Thursday, following violent clashes between soldiers and Jewish extremists.
Border Police forces, together with the Civil Administration, carried out the demolitions. The Border Police spokesman said they did so at the request of the IDF.
He said that there were some clashes with settler youth from the area, who threw stones as security forces demolished two wooden structures and one small concrete structure.
According to the Yitzhar spokesman, some eight people lived in the two wooden structures.
Separately, the IDF has continued to declare the nearby Kumi Ori outpost as a closed military zone.
Settlers have charged that the actions of the security forces were retribution for three attacks by Jewish extremists against IDF and Border Police officers in the Yitzhar area over the last eight days.
The Yitzhar secretariat, which ordered the hilltop youth to leave the community, said that the Border Police action harmed their efforts to calm the situation.
The community has taken a “staunch stance against the injury to the soldiers and, precisely because of this, the decision to demolish buildings as an act of punishment is derogatory and improper conduct,” the secretariat said, adding that the demolitions constitute collective punishment and are “improper and disproportionate.”
“We call [on the IDF to] refrain from a draconian move like this, which stirs things up instead of calming them down, and call on Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu to be the responsible adult and restore the routine quiet to Yitzhar,” the secretariat added.
Yamina MK Ofir Sofer agreed, stating that collective punishment is not the way to respond to the situation, particularly given the Yitzhar community’s actions against the violent “criminals” who attacked the soldiers.
KAN News reported that the IDF wanted to demolish a structure in Kumi Ori, a nearby outpost where suspects in some of the attacks live, but Netanyahu, who also serves as the defense minister, refused to grant permission for such a move.
Left-wing politician Avi Buskila said on Twitter that the demolitions were neither significant nor effective.
“So in response to the rioting of hilltop youth from Yitzhar, the state has demolished an uninhabited warehouse near Yitzhar?” he tweeted.


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