YITZHAR SETTLERS ATTACK ISRAELI POLICE, THEN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 001055 SIPDIS NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE. NSC FOR ABRAMS/SINGH/PASCUAL E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2018 TAGS: KWBG PBTS PREL PHUM IS SUBJECT: YITZHAR SETTLERS ATTACK ISRAELI POLICE, THEN RAMPAGE THROUGH NEIGHBORING VILLAGES REF: JERUSALEM 925 Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, per reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Settlers clashed with some 200 Israeli police attempting to remove illegal structures in Yitzhar settlement near Nablus on June 19, resulting in injuries to four policemen and eleven settlers. Local Palestinian contacts told PolOff that settlers subsequently rampaged through nearby villages, burning fields and an olive grove and attacking Palestinians with rocks and sticks. Palestinian firemen say Israeli security forces prevented them from accessing burning fields to extinguish the fire for several hours. END SUMMARY Police Clash with Yitzhar Settlers, Several Injured -------------- ¶2. (C) Mounting tension at Yitzhar settlement (on a ridge southwest of Nablus) boiled over on June 19 when Israeli border police arrived to investigate a reported settler weapons cache, remove an illegal caravan at a Yitzhar extension called "Havat Shaked" (not on the list of post-March 2001 outposts) and to post evacuation orders for other illegal structures. Press reported that four policemen and eleven settlers were injured in clashes during the operation. Settler Yisrael Medad told PolOff that settlers unsuccessfully attempted to block police from entering Yitzhar and, once police were inside, blocked the settlement's exit and punctured police vehicle tires. Settler Rivka Livnat from neighboring Elon Moreh settlement complained to PolOff that police "beat and injured" Yitzhar's rabbi in the scuffles. Settlers Descend on Palestinian Villages, Starting Fires and Attacking Residents -------------- ¶3. (C) Zakariya Saddah (local activist for Rabbis for Human Rights) told PolOff that Yitzhar settlers subsequently descended to the nearby Palestinian villages of Burin, Huwarra, and Asira al-Qabaliyah and set fire to cultivated fields and olive trees, attacked villagers with rocks and sticks, and painted the star of David on at least one Palestinian home. Saddah said two Palestinians were injured in the attacks. The NGO International Women's Peace Service told PolOff that some 200 settlers arrived in buses from other West Bank settlements and began throwing rocks and assisting in igniting fields. ¶4. (C) Muti Salih from Burin's village council told Pol FSN on June 19 that Israeli security forces prevented local Palestinian fire fighters from accessing fields to extinguish the fire for several hours while the fields burned. According to Salih, settlers also blocked access to the village. PA Civil Defense Chief BG Ibrahim al-Atiani (aka Saqr Mujahid) said PA firefighters eventually secured IDF approval to send two firetrucks to extinguish the blazes. Settlers Start Fires for Second Day -------------- ¶5. (C) Saddih told PolOff that Yitzhar settlers again appeared in Burin on June 20 and set fields afire. Saddih said Israeli police called him about the incident and asked for photographic evidence, which he said provided both to the police and to PolOff. (Note: The photos show multiple field fires and many small stones laying next to a village building, which Saddih said were thrown by settlers. End note). Also on June 20, local press reported that a Yitzhar yeshiva student had fired a crude rocket from inside the settlement toward neighboring Palestinians villages, which landed on the edge on Nablus without causing any injuries or damage. YESHA Head Distances "Mainstream" Settlers from Yitzhar Residents; Downplays Rocket Report -------------- -- ¶6. (C) YESHA Council Head Dani Dayan told PolOff on June 20 that Yitzhar's residents are "not good friends of mine, and if I had been there, I don't know who they would have attacked first: the police, the Palestinians, or me." He said the rocket firing was "an older story only coming to light now, not something that happened today or yesterday," and was "just a kid playing around." Comment JERUSALEM 00001055 002 OF 002 -------------- ¶7. (C) The ConGen has been tracking escalating settler violence at Yitzhar for several weeks (reftel),and Secretary Rice raised the issue with Israeli MOD Barak. The settlers who live on the hilltops and ridges near Nablus are among the most ideologically-driven in the West Bank, and those in Yitzhar are probably the most paranoid and extreme of that group. Yitzhar contains several caravans and other structures built in violation of Israeli law, but little action has been taken heretofore to remove these structures or prevent new building without permits. WALLES