Right-wing activist injured; troops were protecting Palstinian olive harvesters in Hebron Hills.
By YAAKOV KATZ, TOVAH LAZAROFF AND YAAKOV LAPPINmasked topless settler 224 88(photo credit: AP)
An IDF soldier was wounded Wednesday after he was attacked by a group of masked far-right Jewish extremists while his unit was protecting Palestinian farmers harvesting their olive trees near the settlement of Otniel in the southern Hebron Hills.
The IDF said that 10 right-wing activists wearing masks and carrying clubs appeared in the olive grove and attacked the group of soldiers that was there to protect the Palestinian farmers.
One of the soldiers was lightly wounded and evacuated to a hospital in Jerusalem. A right-wing activist was also injured after he tried to grab one of the soldiers' rifles and was hurt in the ensuing clash.
The IDF and Israel Police scoured the area for the perpetrators but none were arrested.
Tzvika Bar-Hai, who heads the South Hebron Regional Council which is housed in Otniel, said that to the best of his knowledge the attack was not connected to the settlement and that he was sorry that a soldier had been wounded.
Ibrahim Mahoud Harani, who owns some 35 dunams in the area, said that he had been harvesting olives with members of his family. Many of those working in the groves, he said, were women, children and the elderly.
"We were working when the settlers came and started to throw stones," he told The Jerusalem Post. "I do not know what would have happened if the army had not intervened," he said.
Last year, he said, the family had received help in the harvest from Israeli left-wing activists and the harvest passed without any problems. This year, he said, they had relied solely on the army.
While he was grateful that the soldiers had saved them from the settlers, he said that in the aftermath of the attack the family was told to go home and to reapply to the civil administration for permission to harvest.
"I don't know what we will do, because only 25 percent of the olives have been harvested," he said.
Earlier this week, a top IDF officer told the Post that there have been close to 20 violent clashes between Jewish settlers and Palestinian farmers since the olive harvest in the West Bank began earlier this month, making the 2008 olive harvest one of the most violent in recent years.
Wednesday's incident is the second serious attack in the last five days by settlers against Palestinians harvesting olives.
In an incident on Saturday in Hebron, that was filmed by AP Television News, four Jewish men punched and kicked a Palestinian photographer of the EPA news agency. On Tuesday night, a resident of Yitzhar was detained in connection with the attack and then released.
On Wednesday, police arrested a minor from Hebron and one male adult from Bracha for their participation in the attack. The two had come into the station and to speak with the police about the incident. Police had already arrested three left-wing activists who had come to Hebron that day to help out with the harvest, but refused to leave after being ordered to do so by the police.
But the largest spate of arrests came on Wednesday when between the early morning and the afternoon police arrested 20 minors and nine adults who, they said, were illegally demonstrating in front of the Reut home of OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Gadi Shamni.
The right-wing activists were protesting Shamni's decision to issue restraining orders against a number of activist leaders who live in Judea and Samaria, thus preventing them from living in their homes for several months.
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