Subscribe to Print Edition | Fri., July 25, 2008 Tamuz 22, 5768 | | Israel Time: 06:21 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Rosner's Domain
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File
Last update - 15:11 13/07/2008
Settler arrested in failed rocket attack on Palestinian town
By The Associated Press
Tags: Yitzhar, Israel, West Bank 

Police said Sunday they have arrested a settler suspected of involvement in a failed rocket attack on a Palestinian village in the West Bank.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that police arrested Gilad Herman, a student at a Jewish seminary in the settlement of Yitzhar.

Herman had been wanted for questioning since the attempt last month to launch a home-built rocket at the neighboring village of Burin, but apparently had gone into hiding.
Advertisement
Rosenfeld said Herman was arrested at Yitzhar on Saturday, in connection with the house-to-house search that took place about a month ago for weapons.

The projectile failed to reach its target and nobody was harmed, although the sound of the blast triggered a sweep of the area by Israeli security forces who initially believed a Palestinian attack on settlers was in progress.

Media reports said police believe the perpetrator probably found rocket-making instructions on the Internet.

Until a truce with Islamic militants last month, Palestinians fired crude
rockets into Israel from Gaza almost daily. Sporadic rocket fire has continued since the truce took effect.

But the Yitzhar attack is the first reported instance of Israelis firing
homemade rockets at Palestinian targets.

Two week ago, Palestinian police sources reported that two improvised mortar shells, bearing the legends "Sharon 1" and "Sharon 2," were fired from the settlement of Bracha to the village of Burin, near Nablus.

Yitzhar is a known hotbed of ultranationalist Israelis who believe that the West Bank is part of the biblical land of Israel promised to the Jewish people by God. They oppose any concessions to the Palestinians.

An instructor at the seminary was arrested in 2006 on suspicion of inciting violence against Arabs.

Yitzhar residents have repeatedly fought farmers from the Palestinian villages that surround their hilltop settlement and have clashed with police sent to supervise demolition of unlicensed buildings in the area.

In 2006, the Israel Defense Forces withdrew troops stationed at Yitzhar for its protection, citing repeated settler attacks on soldiers and destruction of military equipment.

Settlers indicted for attacking Palestinian

Also in Sunday, the Be'er Sheva District Court indicted three residents of the illegal West Bank outpost of Asah-El, for allegedly abducting and assaulting a Palestinian just over a week ago.

Lior Ben-David, Mordechai Azuriel and Eyal Rahamim are suspected of beating a Palestinian farmer and tying him to a poll. Rahamim has also been charged with opening fire on left-wing activists and Palestinians and of hurling a container of sewage at them as well.

According to the indictment, a week ago Saturday a group of Palestinians came in a field some 400 meters from the Asah-El outpost in order to uproot weeds.

The complainant, Madahat Abu-Kirash, said that over the course of their fieldwork, he dropped a lit cigarette, igniting a fire. He said he asked settlers for some water to extinguish the flames and was greeted with hostilities.

According to the complainant, the suspects accused him of starting the fire deliberately and begin to beat him with sticks. They then allegedly pulled off his shoes, tied his hands together, and dragged him to an electrical post near their homes.

Left-wing activists later videoed a settler kicking Abu-Kirash, as he remained tied up and was surrounded by Israeli security forces. The soldiers subsequently removed the settler from the scene.

Hebron police opened an investigation into the incident after Abu-Kirash submitted a complaint, claiming that he had been beaten all over his body.

Related articles:
  • VIDEO: Settlers tie Palestinian man to phone pole and beat him
  • Haaretz Editorial / Too easy on settler crime
  • VIDEO: Settlers tie Palestinian man to phone pole and beat him
  • B'Tselem cameras pay off for victims of settler attacks
  • VIDEO: Palestinian woman films masked men attacking W. Bank farmers
    • Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    The bigger apple
    Study shows Tel Aviv is more expensive to live in than New York.
    When bedbugs bite
    After 40 years' absence, Israel braces for return of the bedbug.
      1.   Lock him up 13:17  |  H 13/07/08
      2.   above 13:21  |  moishe 13/07/08
      3.   I wonder when.... 13:28  |  Rollin 13/07/08
      4.   Yashiva terriost 13:33  |  Archangel 13/07/08
      5.   Silence from his supporters 13:58  |  David 13/07/08
      6.   Next Move.. 14:04  |  Imad 13/07/08
      7.   Why should they be arrested? They are defending themselves 14:13  |  sd 13/07/08
      8.   Rabid dogs 14:18  |  Natallie Durson 13/07/08
      9.   Stupid, stupid, stupid thing to do 14:20  |  Ilan 13/07/08
      10.   What is the problem? Thousands should be launched! 14:22  |  Johnny 13/07/08
      11.   Not the first time. Man in Ashkelon also 14:25  |  Ilan 13/07/08
      12.   Archangel... and the rest who think like him 14:35  |  Nephtaly 13/07/08
      13.   so he is a settler 14:50  |  dave duncan 13/07/08
      14.   There`s the difference 15:07  |  Lisa 13/07/08
      15.   fire work 15:18  |  wh 13/07/08
      16.   Durson`s rabid keyboard - wrong again 15:30  |  Joe Sittizen 13/07/08
      17.   it is high time to do it 15:42  |  amihai 13/07/08
      18.   The guy Gilad is a hero in my eyes! 16:16  |  Wise Saba 13/07/08
      19.   Joe Sittizen - I fear that I am casting pearls before swine 16:28  |  Natallie Durson 13/07/08
      20.   Jews have the right to live in peace on the WB 16:44  |  Great White North 13/07/08
      21.   Natalie, I am a Rabid Settler 17:01  |  Meir Gush Etzion 13/07/08
      22.   so he is a settler 17:20  |  dave duncan 13/07/08
      23.   Meir Gush Etzion - 17:34  |  Natallie Durson 13/07/08
      24.   DO not sink to the level of the Arabs! It is just bad 17:40  |  PETER SM 13/07/08
      25.   Dear Meir # 17 17:58  |  North American 13/07/08
      26.   The never ending Israeli Terrorism against Arabs..... 18:37  |  POP 13/07/08
      27.   DESTROY THEIR FAMILY HOMES... NOW 19:57  |  johnj 13/07/08
      28.   North American 20:21  |  judith 13/07/08
      29.   Judith 20:34  |  Lisa 13/07/08
      30.   Abu-Kirash`s first mistake 20:38  |  Lisa 13/07/08
      31.   Now is the chance for the Authority to show 20:39  |  Michelle Galet 13/07/08
      32.   National peace and the Land 20:50  |  Wayne 13/07/08
      33.   IDF kills and now settlers too? 21:16  |  Fard 13/07/08
      34.   Send the bulldozers, if you`re not hypocrites. 21:54  |  Maki 13/07/08
      35.   would he have been arrested if he had succeeded? 22:15  |  observer 13/07/08
      36.   Dear Judith # 28 22:29  |  North American 13/07/08
      37.   POP you don`t like it when you get your own back do you? 22:36  |  PETER SM 13/07/08
      38.   Israeli Government Bent on Suicide 22:54  |  UsedToPostHere 13/07/08
      39.   HYPOCRITES ALLOW Daily Rockets on Defenseless Sderot Citizens 23:03  |  Linda Rivera 13/07/08
      40.   When will the time come to move? Dear North American 23:08  |  Meir Gush Etzion 13/07/08
      41.   Natalie, thanks! 23:13  |  Meir Gush Etzion 13/07/08
      42.   FARD see what happens when you target civillians 23:15  |  PETER SM 13/07/08
      43.   Even liberal Haaretz doesn`t call this guy by his name 23:42  |  newageblues 13/07/08
      44.   Will his family home be razed and relatives sent to Israel Proper 23:51  |  Labhras 13/07/08
      45.   #28 judith illinformed again 00:04  |  Labhras 14/07/08
      46.   North American Part 1 00:21  |  Nephtaly 14/07/08
      47.   The settlers do not represent the Jews... 00:27  |  ali 14/07/08
      48.   North American Part 2 00:37  |  Nehphtaly 14/07/08
      49.   North American 3 00:57  |  Nephtaly 14/07/08
      50.   North American 4 01:04  |  Nephtaly 14/07/08
      51.   Rabid settlers: "Their colonies are bright spots in a desert" 07:25  |  Steve 14/07/08
      52.   To 10: Your could not be more right! 08:29  |  Robert 14/07/08
      53.   314 Where have you been Lisa? 08:40  |  Maureen Ann 14/07/08
      54.   Whimps 09:39  |  Lily 14/07/08
      55.   LABRAHAS when your friends in Gaza start razing Qassem bombers 10:12  |  PETER SM 14/07/08
      56.   Dear Nephtaly #46 etc.. Part 1 13:46  |  North American 14/07/08
      57.   Dear Nephtaly # 48 etc. Part 2 13:48  |  North American 14/07/08
      58.   Dear Naphtaly # 48 etc Part 3 13:49  |  North American 14/07/08
      59.   Dear Meir # 40 13:57  |  North American 14/07/08
      60.   Dear North American.."Jewish State" 15:53  |  Meir Gush Etzion 14/07/08
      61.   Dear meir # 60 23:54  |  North American 14/07/08
      62.   Only now have been caught. False flag ops 08:05  |  Guy From NYC 15/07/08
      63.   #62 Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight! black helicopters are coming to get you! 09:09  |  DesMnsDave