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Palestinians Beaten by Settlers and the Police Release the Suspects
January 3, 2008
Source : Peace Now
by Hagit Ofran
The Peace Now Settlement Watch team has always reported from the Occupied Territories in order that Israeli citizens will be aware of what is being committed under their name and with their money. As in many cases the official requests for information from state bodies is not so forthcoming, so the Settlement Watch team is forced to travel through the areas in question to document by themselves any changing events. Occasionally threatening authority figures and violence by the settlers faces the team. The following reports reveal incidents faced by the Settlement Watch team.
In the settlement of Modi’in Illit there are a number of enclaves of private land owned by Palestinians from the village of Bil’in. Those enclaves are surrounded by fences and the settlers are forbidden to use the land. This evening [i.e., 1/1/08] around 8 p.m. settlers from Modi’in Illit placed two caravans in a forbidden area. Three residents of Bil’in went out to document the offense and called the police (which took its time). When the crane and the truck with the caravan arrived, the Palestinians stood under the crane to prevent it from proceeding. Then they were assaulted by residents of Modi’in Illit who beat them until they were bleeding and broke the camera and equipment they had with them.
When the Settlement Watch Team arrived a few minutes later, we found a gathering of residents of Modi’in Illit, a group of soldiers, three police officers. At their feet lay wounded Mohammed and Abdallah from Bil’in. I went over to them and they asked me to call an ambulance. I called Magen David Adom and was told they had already sent an ambulance, apparently at the request of the police. Mohammed asked to be taken to an Israeli hospital, but they took the injured men to the checkpoint. From the checkpoint they were evacuated to a hospital in Ramallah. They went home 24 hours later and now feel much better.
The settlers, the police and the soldiers surrounding the wounded men yelled at us not to get near, not to take pictures and not to get in the way. Both the soldiers and the police were constantly asking me to move away from the injured men, “because I was causing a provocation.” Meanwhile, my friend who joined me and filmed the event with a video camera, was attacked by the settlers. A woman settler jumped on her and pushed her, pulled her away and grabbed the camera from her (it was later returned to her by the police). The whole time the settlers interfered with my photographing and at some point I dropped the camera gear and cables out of my bag. One of the settlers picked it up and handed it to me but before I could take it somebody said to him ‘don’t give it back to her.’ The gear was taken away from me and has not been seen since…
The Suspects were freed: The wounded Palestinians had mannaged to indicated the assailants to the police, who detained them. A few minutes later they were freed. I told the policemen this was grave assault and that they may not free them without investigation and arrest. The policemen said to me that as long as there is no complaint by the victims they cannot make an arrest. I said to them: ‘But the victims are injured, they are on the way to the hospital, they cannot complain now’. But they said: ‘They should come to the police and complain.’
The caravans stayed: even though the police knew it was an offense, they let the crane and the truck that brought the caravans leave without taking them away. In other words, even though the fence had been breached, even though the police knew and was present, even though there was a violent assault against the land owners, the police let the caravans stay. Only a day after, were the caravans removed from the place.
When the event was over, we went back to the car and found out that somebody had cut the valves of the wheels of the Peace Now car and we could not leave. We had to wait till 12:30 a.m. to be towed.
One of the Palestinians mannaged to film the begging of the event, and some of the beatings, until he was attacked and his camera broken by the settlers.
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