MASKED SETTLERS CLUB 68-YEAR-OLD PALESTINIAN WOMAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 001004 SIPDIS NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE. NSC FOR ABRAMS/SINGH/PASCUAL E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/12/2018 TAGS: KWBG PBTS PREL PHUM IS SUBJECT: MASKED SETTLERS CLUB 68-YEAR-OLD PALESTINIAN WOMAN IN LAND DISPUTE NEAR HEBRON Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, per reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Local NGOs have confirmed press reports of masked settlers beating Palestinians near Hebron on June 8. According to these sources, two elderly Palestinians were injured and one was hospitalized. The victims identified the assailants as settlers from Susiya. Susiya settlers, neighboring settlers, and settler leaders all denied any knowledge of the attack in phone calls with PolOff. END SUMMARY. Two Elderly Palestinians Beaten -------------- ¶2. (C) On June 8, local press reported Palestinians south of Hebron were brutally beaten by Israeli settlers from the nearby settlement of Susiya in a dispute over agricultural land. On June 10, Yehuda Shaul of the Israeli NGO "Breaking the Silence told PolOff he visited the Nawajah family involved in the incident, whose matriarch, a 68-year-old woman, was still hospitalized in Beer Sheva. and scheduled for release on June 11. Press reported that her 70-year old-husband was also beaten but not hospitalized. Shaul said Nawajah family members told him that on June 8 they were cultivating their land when two settlers wearing shirts over their faces approached from settler Dalia Har Sinai's compound in Susiya and ordered them to leave. When the Nawajahs refused, Shaul said four more settlers arrived, one carrying a pick, and a settler beat the Palestinians with the pick's blunt end. Shaul said Israeli police arrived and administered first aid following the incident, while the settlers returned to Susiya. Rabbis for Human Rights Director Erik Asherman recounted the same version of the incident to PolOff, noting a recent up-tick in settler violence across the West Bank. Settlers: "We Only Read About It in the Paper" -------------- ¶3. (C) Susiya settler Doron Sar Avi told PolOff on June 10 that he knew nothing of the incident and "only read about in the paper like you." Sar Avi said Dalia Har Sinai is a widow with nine children, who lost her husband in a terrorist attack near Susiya in July 2001 and who regularly hosts settler youth at an "agricultural - ecological camp" on land near her home. Rabbi Asherman said Har Sinai is a fierce advocate for "Jewish rights to land around Susiya." Settler Elisha Meidan and other neighboring settlers denied knowledge of the incident, as did Yesha Council Chairman Dani Dayan. Investigation initiated -------------- ¶4. (C) Yehuda Shaul of "Breaking the Silence" said the Palestinians took video of the attack but provided the only copy to Israeli police when they arrived and have been unable to retrieve the tape. The Nawajahs also retained shards from the broken pick handle used to beat them, he said. According to Shaul, Israeli police again arrived on June 10 and are investigating the incident. WALLES