Clash Outside Beit El
(IsraelNN.com) Arabs blocked a road - and then threw rocks at Jews who came to clear it. Three Jews were lightly wounded, and seven were arrested. No Arab rock-throwers were apprehended.
A clash broke out on Saturday night between Arabs and Jews near Givat HaOr, a young outpost outside Beit El. Large army and police forces arrived, and, acting on Arab claims of a Jewish violence, arrested 11 Jews. Seven of them were held overnight and were released only on Sunday morning. No Arabs were arrested.
In addition, three Jews who had been injured by Arab-thrown rocks were removed from a civilian ambulance so that they could be arrested. The IDF officer in charge turned off the ambulance engine and took out the keys. The three victims were reportedly later treated by an army medic.
Jewish eyewitnesses said the focus of the incident was not Jewish violence, but was actually provoked and begun by the Arabs, who blocked a road and then attacked the Jews who came to open it.
The incident occurred just outside Givat HaOr, a Jewish civilian site that was begun by Beit El youth several months ago. The place is accessible by an uphill foot path adjacent to an army checkpoint, as well as a road winding around the outpost adjacent to the Arab town of Bittin. On Friday afternoon, the young Jews preparing to spend the Sabbath there found that Arabs had blocked the road with large boulders. It was too close to the Sabbath for them to do anything about it, however, and they were thus prevented from bringing supplies for the Sabbath.
On Saturday night, they began to clear away the rocks from the road, when Arabs began pelting them with stones.
Arutz-7 asked an IDF spokesman why no Arabs had been arrested, given the fact that three Jews were injured in the incident. No response has yet been provided.
Beit El Mayor Moshe Rosenbaum told Arutz-7 that whether the outpost is authorized or not, "Jews anywhere in the Land of Israel have the basic right to be protected by the IDF." He similarly expressed surprise that the security forces had not detained any Arabs.
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