SETTLERS ATTACK PALESTINIAN FARMERS AND ACTIVISTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 000824

SIPDIS

NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE AND IPA; NSC FOR SHAPIRO/KUMAR; JOINT
STAFF FOR LTGEN SELVA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/20/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM IS KWBG
SUBJECT: SETTLERS ATTACK PALESTINIAN FARMERS AND ACTIVISTS
WEST OF NABLUS

REF: A. 08 JERUSALEM 1918

B. 08 JERUSALEM 1908

Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, per reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary. Settlers attacked Palestinian farmers and
Israeli and international activists who had gathered on May
19 to plow fields in the northern West Bank, according to
Arik Ascherman of "Rabbis for Human Rights." The resulting
skirmish resulted in minor injuries and the arrest of one
Palestinian farmer. An Israeli NGO promoting Palestinian
farmers' access to land claimed that, despite advance
coordination with the GOI, the IDF and Israeli border police
did not protect the farmers, and instead used stun grenades
against them. End summary.


2. (C) Rabbi Arik Ascherman, the head of Israeli NGO
"Rabbis for Human Rights", told Poloff on May 20 that a group
of settlers from Havat Gilad outpost, west of Nablus,
attacked Palestinian farmers and activists on May 19 who were
attempting to plow land between Jit village and Havat Gilad
outpost. IDF soldiers and Israeli border policemen were on
site, according to Ascherman, because his organization had
coordinated in advance with the IDF. Ascherman said the
settlers' attack started a skirmish between the farmers and
the settlers, during which the soldiers and policemen
targeted Palestinian farmers with stun grenades, but ignored
the settlers, who threw stones and set fire to a Palestinian
field. Ascherman said he was lightly injured when he was hit
in the chest by a stone thrown by a settler. He said a young
Palestinian who hit a border policeman with a stone was
arrested. According to press reports, and confirmed by
Ascherman, no settlers were questioned or arrested.


3. (C) Ascherman said that as part of the incident on May
19, Havat Gilad settlers made a new ownership claim to the
land between Jit and Havat Gilad. He called the ownership
claim "frivolous," saying it is a common method employed by
settlers to prohibit Palestinian work on a parcel of land
while the ownership claim is examined. He dismissed the
"Shomron Settlers' Committee" public statement on May 20 that
"leftist activists" were "making every effort to create
clashes with the Jewish residents." Ascherman said he will
meet with IDF West Bank Legal Advisor Sharon Afek on May 24
to discuss coordination and the new land ownership claim.
Ascherman claimed that the Nablus area DCO tells Palestinian
farmers that working with Israeli activists hurts their
chances of getting permits to farm their land.

WALLES