He said, she said between settlers, olive harvesters

Judges unable to tell which side initiated olive harvest violence.

By DAN IZENBERG
olive harvesting in w bank 224.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
olive harvesting in w bank 224.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Media reports and police allegations that four settlers beat up Palestinian olive harvesters and cameramen who filmed the October 18 incident were false and slanted, a spokeswoman for Hebron's Jewish community said Sunday. The spokeswoman, Orit Struck, released transcripts of two Jerusalem Magistrate's Courts hearings that she said indicated that the harvesters were not Palestinians but rather left-wing activists, and that the leftists had attacked the settlers. The incident occurred in the Tel Rumeida area, part of which is inhabited by Jews. According to police, the olive grove belongs to a Palestinian but the area was designated as a closed military zone and the harvesters did not coordinate their entry into the area with the army. The hearings whose transcripts were released by Struck involved two separate requests by the police to extend the remand of three of the four settlers suspected of attacking the harvesters. In response to the first request, on October 23, the deputy president of the court, Judge Shimon Feinberg, wrote that "the police showed those present in the courtroom a film documenting the events of that day. The film was taken by one of the Arab photographers who was there. It should be pointed out that the film was edited. From the evidence before me, it is not possible to determine who initiated the violence." On October 28, Judge Ram Winograd rejected the state's request to extend the remand of one of the suspects. In his decision, he wrote that the explanation of the Palestinian whose film served as evidence was questionable. The photographer, Amer Abdin, had explained to police that the film was disjointed because he had a small cassette and was trying to save film by shooting brief segments. However, he spent much time filming the settlers walking through the olive grove on their way toward the harvesters. Then, the film skips the confrontation between the two groups, making it impossible to know who started the violence. The film shows two of the suspects beating Amer, but does not show how one of the two settlers received a severe welt on his back. Winograd also wrote that Amer's brother Naif threw a 20-centimeter rock, apparently at the settler with the welt - for which he should have been indicted. The omission "backs the settlers' claim that the police discriminated against them," Winograd wrote. The judge also wrote that the fact that the other Palestinian photographers took photos of Amer after he was beaten instead of helping him raised questions. He concluded that while the police claimed the settlers had provoked the attack, "there was support for the opposite allegation."