8 policemen injured in W. Bank scuffles

Settlers hurl rocks at border police at site of demolished Federman Farm outpost near Hebron.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF, ABE SELIG
idf dismantling outpost settlers 248 88 (photo credit: Channel 1[file])
idf dismantling outpost settlers 248 88
(photo credit: Channel 1[file])
Eight policemen were lightly injured in clashes with settlers on Friday and Saturday at the site of the Federman Farm outpost on the outskirts of Kiryat Arba. The outpost was destroyed by security forces last Sunday and then rebuilt by settlers, dozens of whom have been camping out there since then. All the injuries to border policemen and police were caused by stones thrown by settlement activists; only one officer, a border policeman, required hospitalization. Far-right activist Itamir Ben-Gvir said that on Saturday afternoon, border policemen beat up a 10-year-old boy who was trying to get to the outpost. It was the Border Police officers who initiated the violence, and they should not be surprised when settlers respond in kind, activist Baruch Marzel said. "We are tired of being silent," he said. A Border Police spokesman said no complaint had been filed regarding the 10-year-old, but that the settlers were welcome to do so. "The cynical use of children in the clashes greatly concerns me," the spokesman said. Around 1 a.m. last Sunday, security forces, in a surprise operation, destroyed the outpost, which consisted of two unauthorized homes belonging to the families of singer Sinai Tor and right-wing activist Noam Federman. On Friday, settlers laid a cornerstone for the new buildings they hope to construct to replace the Tor and Federman homes. They also rebuilt the shack that security forces destroyed late Saturday night. During that ceremony, Hebron-Kiryat Arba Chief Rabbi Dov Lior compared the destruction of the two homes early Sunday morning to what the Nazis did to the Jews in Poland. Already by last Sunday afternoon, settlers had built a shack at the site. They say they were able to thwart attempts by security forces late Tuesday night to destroy that shack. That afternoon, settlers and police clashed again at the site. During that incident four border policemen were injured. A photographer for Agence France-Presse was wounded when he was hit in the head by a stone thrown by settlers. By Thursday, they had built a second temporary structure at the site. Late that night, border policemen and police arrived and destroyed one of the new structures. Two Border Police officers were wounded and three girls were arrested for throwing rocks at police cars. They were remanded until Sunday, when they are due to be released. In response, settlers attacked the homes of two Palestinian families who live near Federman Farm, according to Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights. He said a 95-year-old woman lives in one of the houses, and the family in the second has children, including a one-and-a-half-year-old. The site is down a hillside from a built-up area in Kiryat Arba, near Hebron. The families had been living there for more than two years, but said the site had been populated for at least 10. The site had taken on the name of the Federmans, who have nine children aged 17 and under. On Friday, the office of the European Union's rotating presidency, currently held by France, urged Israel to act to halt attacks by settler on Palestinians in Kiryat Arba and in the West Bank in general, including attacks relating to the olive harvest, which is now underway. "The European Union once again condemns in the strongest possible terms the acts of violence and brutality committed against Palestinian civilians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank," the presidency said in a statement. "The European Union would point out that it is up to the Israeli government, which has itself condemned these acts, to take the necessary measures to stop them immediately, in accordance with its international obligations," it added. Settlers say the attacks on Palestinians early Friday morning were a response to the attempts by the the Border Police to evacuate the outpost. Palestinians have not been the only ones targeted by activists in response to the destruction of Federman Farm. Ben-Gvir said on Saturday night that due to their protest, the IDF officer who headed the operation at Federman Farm was forced to cancel a scheduled speech to potential IDF recruits in Efrat, in Gush Etzion. Despite the altercations, some 100 settlers spent Shabbat at the site, including members of the Federman and Tor families, according to Ben-Gvir. All was calm until 4 p.m., when the border police officers beat up the 10-year old boy, he said. He also said that "anarchists" stationed at a nearby Palestinian home threw stones at the settlers during the day. But according to Ascherman, volunteers who have come to the homes of the Palestinian families were there merely to protect them from continued harassment in the aftermath of last Sunday's destruction of Federman Farm.