IDF foils alleged settlement breach

Settlers claim Palestinians were vandalizing olive trees in attempt to incriminate Jewish residents.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF, YAAKOV LAPPIN
IDF arrest 224.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
IDF arrest 224.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
The IDF stopped three Palestinians on Saturday afternoon who were suspected of trying to infiltrate the Har Bracha settlement in Samaria. According to the military, the three came very close to the settlement's security fence when they were stopped by the army. The three Palestinians managed to escape, but the IDF captured two of them, who are now being held for interrogation. Earlier in the day, a spokesman for the nearby settlement of Yitzhar, Yigal Amitai, said that the settlement's security forces alerted the IDF after spotting Palestinians olive harvesters near their settlement around 10 a.m. The sight surprised them, said Amitai, since they had not been told that Palestinians would be harvesting in that area. They contacted the army which said that no harvesting activity had been coordinated by them. According to Amitai, when the settlement's security officers went to investigate the matter they found that the Palestinians were not picking olives, but rather were vandalizing trees. He theorized that they were doing so in an attempt to make it look as if it was the settlers who had harmed Palestinian property. But Palestinian had a very different story. They said they were attacked by settlers as they harvested olives near Yitzhar. One Palestinian was moderately wounded and a second was lightly wounded by stones thrown at them by settlers, said Zacharia Sadeh, a Palestinian who works with the Israeli group Rabbis for Human Rights. He added that a settler also fired a gun at them as well. The event occurred as some 30 Palestinian including women, children and some elderly farmers were working their land some 500 meters away from Yitzhar, said Sadeh. Amitai said that no settlers from his settlement had engaged in violence against Palestinians. The army said only that a violent incident had occurred on Saturday near Yitzhar but would not elaborate on the matter. The Border Police said they had no information on the incident.