Two detained on suspicion of assaulting Arab women and child in West Bank outpost
Settlers stoned and threatened victims, burned their car, after women mistakenly entered Givat Ronen on way to Nablus; police to ask to extend suspects’ remand after questioning
Police and Shin Bet officers on Monday arrested two Israeli settlers suspected of assaulting four Arab Israeli women and a 2-year-old girl in the northern West Bank outpost of Givat Ronen.
The two suspects have been taken for police and Shin Bet questioning, and law enforcement will ask the court on Tuesday to extend their detention, the agencies said in a joint statement.
During the “grave attack” on Friday, settlers threatened the victims, hurled stones at them, and set fire to their car, the statement said.
The victims, from the southern Bedouin city of Rahat, were driving to the Palestinian city of Nablus when they mistakenly entered Givat Ronen. After the attack, they were taken to Beilinson Medical Center in Petah Tikva, some of them with head wounds.
On Sunday, MK Limor Son Har-Melech, of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, appeared to justify the attack, saying settlers suspected the victims of spying on them since the women’s car did not have an Israeli license plate.
Lamis al-Jaer, the 2-year-old victim’s mother who was also attacked, denied the lawmaker’s claim in an interview with Channel 12.
Later Sunday, President Isaac Herzog spoke with the young girl’s father, saying he was “horrified” to hear of the attack, and wishing the victims a full recovery.
“This was a serious incident, this cannot be allowed to happen to us,” said Nufah al-Jaer. “I appreciate and thank you for this conversation.”
Givat Ronen, an illegal settlement outpost, is home to some 30 families and was founded in 1999 by Ronen Harussi, a former member of the so-called Bat Ayin Underground, which plotted terrorist acts against Palestinians in the early 2000s.
Givat Ronen is close to the Palestinian village of Burin. It forms part of the larger Har Bracha settlement.
The area has seen repeated clashes between settlers and Palestinians.
On March 12, Hebrew media reported that a Palestinian man armed with a knife had infiltrated Givat Ronen and attempted to stab a resident before being scared off by the resident’s dog.
Anti-settlement advocacy group Peace Now reported in 2022 that a group of settlers from Givat Ronen attacked seven peace activists with stones and clubs.
Another left-wing group B’Tselem also reported in 2021 that settlers attacked a Palestinian family’s home located 400 meters (a quarter of a mile) from Givat Ronen. The settlers were said to set fire to the family’s olive groves, and soldiers reportedly Maced the Palestinians when they tried to chase the settlers away. It was said to be the seventh attack on the family’s home since June 2020.
