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