SETTLER VIOLENCE SETS NEIGHBOR AGAINST NEIGHBOR IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 001701 SIPDIS NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE, PPD, AND IPA; NSC FOR SHAPIRO/KUMAR; JOINT STAFF FOR LTGEN SELVA E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/15/2019 TAGS: PGOV PBTS KPAL KWBG CASC IS SUBJECT: SETTLER VIOLENCE SETS NEIGHBOR AGAINST NEIGHBOR IN THE WEST BANK Classified By: Consul General Daniel Rubinstein for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary and Comment. Sources on both sides of recent settler-Palestinian clashes near the Palestinian village of al-Mughayyer provided conflicting explanations of what precipitated the event. This incident illustrates the difficulty in establishing ground truth on incidents of violence in the West Bank. End Summary and Comment. Settler-Palestinian Confrontations North of Ramallah -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) On September 11, PolOff visited the site of recent clashes between Palestinians from al-Mughayyer village (north of Ramallah) and Israeli settlers from the nearby Adei Ad outpost. A resident of al-Mughayyer and an AmCit, Jamil Abdullah, told PolOff that on the morning of September 4, he and two of his neighbors discovered that 272 olive trees and 30 fig trees growing on their properties had been cut down. "These olive trees were 35 years old. It will take 10 years to regrow them," Abdullah said. He blamed settlers from the Adei Ad outpost adjacent to Shilo settlement, where twenty Israeli families currently live. ¶3. (C) Upon discovering the damage, Abdullah said, the farmers notified the Israeli District Coordination Office (DCO). (Note: the land in question is located in Area C, outside the jurisdiction of the local Palestinian Civil Police (PCP) station.) Israel Defense Force (IDF) personnel arrived about 30 minutes later, took pictures of the damaged groves, and filed an official report, he said. When other villagers appeared on their farmlands to inspect the situation, Abdullah said, armed settlers from Adei Ad appeared on the hilltop above and began to throw stones at the villagers. According to Abdullah, IDF soldiers later arrived at the scene to disperse the crowd. Differing Accounts of the Incidents -------------- ¶4. (C) Yisrael "Winky" Medad -- a Shilo settler, and also an AmCit -- offered a very different account of the incident which he did not directly witness, but learned of from settlement security officers. According to Medad, earlier in the week, Palestinian villagers had approached Adei Ad outpost at night and destroyed a "structure" (which the local PCP chief later described to PolOff as a deserted caravan). Medad said that, when al-Mughayyer villagers returned to the outpost the next morning, an altercation broke out between them and Adei Ad settlers. Medad confirmed that the IDF then dispersed the crowd. ¶5. (C) Jamil Abdullah denied that local villagers had set off the confrontation. "We see settlers (from the nearby outpost) intruding on Palestinian lands once a week," he said. "But we're afraid of (going to) Adei Ad because we'll be shot at." ¶6. (C) Local PCP Chief Abu Bakr offered a third version of the events, noting ruefully that Palestinian villagers occasionally infiltrated Israeli settlements to steal "livestock and other things." At the same time, Abu Bakr placed the blame for the September 4 incident squarely on the settlers. "The settlers are very aggressive, they only know the language of destruction." ¶7. (C) Comment: This incident provides a glimpse at the difficulty of establishing ground truth on Palestinian-Israeli violence in the West Bank. The close proximity of settlers and Palestinians creates constant tension that periodically erupts in incidents such as these. RUBINSTEIN