Despite a military ban on protests, three people were arrested in police clashes with left-wing activists who had gathered ahead of a planned demonstration at Homesh’s illegal West Bank outpost.
The wildcat outpost is a symbolic site for the settlement movement that government leaders have vowed to eliminate by law.
Hundreds of activists from the Peace Now Settlement watchdog group said they planned to bulldoze Homesh on Saturday and destroy the settlement.
Footage posted online from the staging area for the protest in the central city of Rosh Haiyin showed a scuffle between protesters and police officers. It was unclear how he got started.
“Any detention or arrest only strengthens our claim: the Israelis have nothing to see in the land of the burqa, [Palestinian] The village where the Homesh outpost was built, Peace Now said in a statement. “The illegal checkpoint must be vacated now.”
The left-wing group later said the protest would go ahead, but drivers of trucks carrying bulldozers without heavy machinery were among those detained.
Instead of breaking the violent outpost in Chumash, the police engaged in ending the non-violent protest at the checkpoints
We are not leaving until Chumash is evacuated. pic.twitter.com/WtGEYdVq3K
— Peace Now (@PeaceNowIL) 28 May 2022
However, police and Israel Defense Forces blocked a road near the settlement of Kedumim to prevent protesters from approaching Homesh, the Ynet news site reported.
Police said in a statement that the planned protest by peace activists was illegal and that while they would allow a legal protest, the suspects “planned to violate public order, violate disinformation law and damage property.” “
Police claimed that the arrests of the three were made “in light of genuine fear of damage to public safety and security, and because of violent confrontation.”
In case it ain’t clear – we’re serious pic.twitter.com/MSOY0Eexoq
— Peace Now (@PeaceNowIL) 28 May 2022
Meretz Mk Yair Golan condemned the “crazy police violence” against the activists.
“Unbelievable. Far-right activists are coming in mass to promote illegal activities in Homesh, and police are watching from the sidelines. Activists demanding rule of law rise to protest illegal activity.” And they get arrested in crazy police violence. What’s going on here?” He tweeted.
Mk Yar attended a committee meeting in the Golan Knesset, June 28, 2021. (Yontan Sindel/Flash90)
The military said on Friday it would not secure a Peace Now protest because the presence of Israelis at the site in Homesh violates the Disinformation Act.
The announcement by the military was made despite the fact that a Yeshiva works at the outpost and several right-wing demonstrations have been organized there, including a march last month of around 20,000 activists that included several MPs. that performance was safe by IDF.
According to Palestinian reports, Saturday’s protest came a day after hundreds of Israeli residents attacked Palestinians around Homesh, when they went to the nearby Palestinian village of Burqa and threw stones at homes, fired weapons and set fire to fields.
Channel 13 reported that soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces blocked the entrance to the village and clashed with residents, injuring 15.
Earlier on Friday, Peace Now activists reached the area and were stopped from entering. The network reported that activists requested approval from military officials, and were told that it was illegal for them to visit Homesh and protest.
On Friday afternoon, as Shabbat was approaching, dozens of border police officers arrived at Homesh and confiscated equipment, including personal belongings of students and guests, from around Yeshiva in the settlement.
Homesh has become the focal point of the settler movement. Government ministers have vowed to go ahead with the outpost’s eviction, which is the subject of an ongoing High Court justice case. The deadline for the eviction is still unclear.
The issue threatens to become another crisis for the extremist coalition. Interior Minister Aylette Sheik said on Wednesday that she try to stop Despite statements from its coalition partners in favor of this move, the settlement was completely evacuated.
Leaning on the law, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Tuesday that construction at Homesh is currently “illegal”.
“There is a law that states that construction in areas that were part of the dismantling is illegal,” Bennett said. The outpost is built on privately owned Palestinian land.
In a strong statement from the government, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said he would get Homesh evacuated according to the law, but did not specify a time frame for action.
“Homesh will be evacuated,” Gantz said Monday at the opening of a meeting of his Blue and White faction. “Israeli law requires it.”
Example: Visitors walk through the water tower over the ruins of the evacuated settlement of Homesh on August 27, 2019. (Hillale Meier / Flash 90)
Homesh was originally closed as one of four Jewish settlements in the North Samaria section of the West Bank, which included the 2005 dissolution plan, which focused mostly on the evacuation of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.
Since his evacuation, Homesh has become a symbol of struggle for the settler movement and a source of trouble for local Palestinian communities.
Although the families have been formally evicted from its borders, Homesh has been the home of a destroyed and rebuilt yeshiva. Its students and their supporters have strained relations with the surrounding Palestinian communities.
In December 2021, the Yeshua student was Yehuda Dementmann. killed in terrorist attack When leaving the checkpoint.
According to Army Radio, residents of the nearby Palestinian village of Burqa torched a Homesh structure on Tuesday, and Yeshiva students came down to meet them, starting a stone-pelting battle.
The protests came amid heavy tensions in the West Bank and Israel ahead of a controversial flag march in Jerusalem on Sunday.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Rescue Service said about 90 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli troops in the West Bank on Friday, and said at least one person was shot in the leg. The group said Israel used stun grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse Palestinian protesters, the worst-ever fighting in the city of Hawara.
Also on Friday in the West Bank was a 15-year-old Palestinian teenager killed by israeli army In the West Bank town of Al-Khadr, south of Bethlehem, after Palestinians allegedly threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at soldiers in the area.
