Army probing settlement officer seen aiding settler attack on Palestinians

The Israeli army says it is investigating after a person in military gear was seen aiding settlers attacking Palestinian olive harvesters in a video released by a rights group on Friday, the latest in a series of violent incidents involving nationalistic Jewish youth amid rocketing West Bank tensions.

The attack occurred near the village of Burin in the northern West Bank, in an area that has seen several recent clashes between settlers and Palestinians, according to Yesh Din, a left-wing rights group that documents settler violence in the West Bank.

In the video, a person in military gear watches as masked youths hurl stones at people harvesting olives on a hill between Burin and the Israeli settlement of Har Bracha, when a person in settler garb approaches him holding what appears to be a tear gas grenade.

He is seen holding the grenade for the settler and pointing toward the Palestinians, before the settler launches what appears to also be a tear gas grenade toward them and then returns to take back the first projectile, which he later also throws at the olive harvesters.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that the person in military gear was not a soldier, as claimed by Yesh Din, but a settlement security coordinator.

“The incident and the behavior of the security coordinator are being investigated,” the statement said.

חיילים ומתנחלים תוקפים יחד באדמות בורין. בתיעוד של תחקירן יש דין רואים חייל מושיט רימון גז למתנחל ומראה לו לאן להשליך אותו. בטוחה שהנהלים יחודדו @Yesh_Din pic.twitter.com/8qgY9UwHZJ

— Ziv Stahl????️ (@ziv_stahl) October 21, 2022

The army statement also noted that both sides had hurled stones and that soldiers were deployed to the area to break up the clash using riot control measures.

Many settlements have security teams headed by a civilian security coordinator and composed of residents who are usually army veterans. The teams train regularly and serve as a first response unit during security incidents until the IDF or police arrive at the scene.

The incident was among several clashes between Jewish settlers and Palestinians in the northern West Bank on Friday. Another video published by Yesh Din showed settlers attempting to steal olives from a grove owned by Palestinians from Huwara, a nearby town south of Nablus.

The group said their activists called the police, who arrested the alleged thieves.

היום בשדות חווארה: מתנחלים גונבים זיתים מעצים של תושב הכפר. לשם שינוי דווקא נעצרו. האם יעמדו לדין? נעקוב. צילום: תחקירן יש דין @Yesh_Din pic.twitter.com/8kFMxoIPUL

— Ziv Stahl????️ (@ziv_stahl) October 21, 2022

In another incident, Yesh Din said settlers in Huwara threw sticks and stones, injuring two members of a Palestinian family while they were harvesting olives.

In addition, rocks were thrown at a Jewish family driving through Huwara, but no injuries were reported.

Two Israelis were lightly injured by rocks in Givat Ronen, an illegal outpost near Burin, the Israel Hayom daily reported.

The annual olive harvest season, when Palestinians go into groves on agricultural plots to collect the fruits, often sees an uptick in clashes, especially on plots near Israeli settlements or outposts.

Left-wing Israeli groups often send volunteers to help the harvest, protect Palestinians and document crimes.

On Wednesday, several people were wounded in the southern West Bank as settlers fought with Palestinians and Israeli activists harvesting olives.

Tensions in the Nablus area have ratcheted up in recent weeks, with Israel’s military placing a cordon around the Palestinian city to crack down on a loosely-organized terror group known as Lion’s Den, which has claimed near-nightly attacks on troops and civilians.

Palestinians protesting the closure at a shuttered entrance to the city near Huwara clashed with troops Friday afternoon, hurling stones and burning tires.

Early Thursday, settlers who had been throwing stones at Palestinians near Huwara attacked soldiers who tried to disperse them. Four troops were pepper-sprayed during the clashes, which drew widespread condemnation.

One person, a West Bank settler who is also an IDF soldier, was arrested over the incident.

A week earlier, settlers were seen on video rampaging through the town and attacking Palestinians; soldiers in the area were accused of not doing enough to keep the attackers away. Some 40 people were reported injured in the melee.

תיעוד של התקפת המתנחלים בחווארה היום (צילום: אורן זיו) pic.twitter.com/BzeSvVVs2z

— שיחה מקומית (@mekomit) October 13, 2022

There have been over 100 cases of nationalistic crimes by Israeli settlers, mostly in the northern West Bank, in the last 10 days, the Haaretz daily reported Friday.

An anonymous security source told the paper that large numbers of settlers were involved in such attacks, contradicting public statements by Israeli officials claiming that the violence was being perpetrated by a small group known to law enforcement.

The upcoming November 1 Knesset election has also been seen adding to tensions, with right-wing groups accused of attempting to create an atmosphere in which the army under Defense Minister Benny Gantz is seen as unable to control West Bank violence, the paper reported, citing security officials.

The area around Nablus is home to a number of hardline settlements, whose residents often intimidate Palestinians and vandalize their property. Settlers have also accused the military of not doing enough to protect them.

There have also been heightened tensions near Jerusalem. On Friday, police said they arrested four minors from East Jerusalem over suspicion that they had placed posters praising terrorist Udai Tamimi and the Lion’s Den on the Temple Mount.

Tamimi was killed Wednesday as he tried to attack the settlement of Maaleh Adumim, 11 days after he opened fire on a checkpoint near Jerusalem, killing a border police officer and sparking a major manhunt that led to parts of the capital also being cut off.

https://twitter.com/paltimes2015/status/1583409584651190273

An anti-terror offensive launched earlier this year and focused on the northern West Bank has netted more than 2,000 arrests in near-nightly raids.

It has also left over 120 Palestinians dead, many of them while carrying out attacks or during clashes with security forces.

Early Friday, a 19-year-old accused of affiliation with the Islamic Jihad terror group was killed during a shutout with troops in Jenin during one such raid.

The IDF’s anti-terror offensive in the West Bank was launched following a series of Palestinian attacks that killed 19 people earlier this year. Another Israeli was killed in a suspected attack last month, and four soldiers have been killed in the West Bank in attacks and during the arrest operations.