The settler soldiers ate my camera
A 60 year old farmer goes out to work his land, much like he has done most days for the last 25 years. When he arrives at his plot of land he sees a group tearing up his plants and tractors getting ready to plow under his plants. He confronts the group which is a mix of ‘locals’ and activists lead by a Rabbi. In the ensuing confrontation he is attacked and injured badly enough he has to be airlifted to a hospital. Just another day of Settlers and their Rabbis running a muck in the disputed territories….except it isn’t the ‘Settlers’ or their ‘Rabbis”. Ynet News:
One person was arrested on suspicion of assault, and activists of the B’Tselem human rights organization say soldiers confiscated one of their cameras. The clash erupted as Palestinians arrived to work their lands, which the settlers say belong to them, near Tel Shilo. The settlers claimed the Palestinians uprooted their plants, while the Palestinians said that the settlers stopped them from plowing the land with a tractor.
During the clash, one of the Palestinians attacked a 60-year-old settler, who fell down and hit his head. He was evacuated to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.
One of the reasons I routinely refer to Rabbis for Human Rights ‘except for Jews’ or used the word ‘alleged’ human rights groups like B’Tselem is that so often they are in the thick of the conflict and appear utterly indifferent to the human cost their so-called confrontations incite and instigate. B’Tselem appears much more concerned that one of their member’s camera was confiscated rather than the fact a sixty year old man was attacked and injured seriously by an individual associated with their group. Back to the Ynet News report.
Army and police forces dispatched to the area declared it a “closed military zone.” They arrested the man suspected of assault and he was taken in for questioning by the police. A camera was confiscated from a B’Tselem activist documenting the incident. Residents of the Binyamin Regional Council say the land has been subject to a dispute for many years, but that the sides have so far managed to maintain a “status quo.”
The council’s security officer, Avigdor Shatz, told Ynet that “farmers from Shilo have been working this piece of land for 25 years. There has been a legal dispute over this land for a long time, but the status quo has been maintained. Those violating it are left-wing activists who come here with tractors in order to work the land.” Shatz says that the past two years have seen an escalation in the situation, as left-wing activists and Palestinians claim they are the sole owners of the land. “Last year, a Palestinian came here, presented documents and claimed that the land belonged to him, but a Civil Administration inquiry and legal advices revealed that this was not true,” he said.
Human rights organizations and residents claim, on the other hand, that the settlers have been forging their ownership of the land. Rabbi Arik Ascherman of the Rabbis for Human Rights organization told Ynet, “In the past year there has been a wave of interference with false claims. The settler claims the land belongs to him, but he has no documents while the Palestinians have documents.”
Do false documents trump no documents, and who to believe? Well, I cannot think much of the word of a so-called ‘rabbi’ who provoked a violent confrontation and let an elderly man be beaten by one of ‘followers’ and then fails to display the slightest concern for safety or well-being of injured party. And to add insult to injury – uses his 15 minutes of media hype to plea his ’cause of the day’ rather than express remorse for the part he played in the violence.
Batya adds her two cents at Shiloh Musings but I think she has been a little too kind.
