PA police save IDF officer from angry mob - Haaretz

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Tue., August 28, 2007 Elul 14, 5767

Israel Time: 02:12 (EST+7)

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PA police save IDF officer from angry mob

By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff

An IDF officer who ignored security regulations and mistakenly entered Jenin yesterday narrowly escaped being lynched by a mob, thanks to a swift intervention by Palestinian police, military sources said.

Ironically, the man is deputy safety officer at Central Command. A disciplinary hearing will be held, IDF sources said.

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Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni praised the Palestinian Authority (PA) for rescuing the officer.

"This operation proves that the Palestinian government and its forces are growing stronger in their action against the terrorist organizations," Livni said, during a meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad.

"We were extremely close to a lynch situation," Lieutenant Colonel Atila, the area's coordination and liaison chief, said after the Israeli officer had been handed back to the IDF.

The officer, a major in the Southern Command, was on his way to visit a base in the Mevo-Dotan settlement west of Jenin when he chose a prohibited route north of Shavei Shomron.

At the intersection east of Shavei Shomron, he passed through a roadblock whose soldiers are supposed to stop unauthorized people from driving north. For some reason the soldiers did not stop the officer, perhaps because of his rank.

The officer ignored the regulations and signposts forbiding Israelis to travel in a single, unprotected car on the road between the former Homesh settlement and the Tank intersection.

At the Tank intersection, the officer made a mistake and instead of turning west continued driving north into Jenin.

Youths who saw the car enter the city called others, and soon a crowed gathered round the car. People started throwing stones at it, and some tried to attack the officer.

A Palestinian policeman passing by rushed to the officer's aid, and managed to bring him safely to the Muqata compound, which serves as the Palestinian Authority's security headquarters. From there the police brought him to the roadblock at the city's northeastern entrance, where they handed him over to the IDF.

Jenin police commander Vasim Jayusi said afterward that one of his traffic policemen noticed a white Renault with Israeli license plates, driven by an IDF soldier, near the market place at about noon.

"He immediately notified the Palestinian Authority's headquarters, and the officers there called in every available man," Jayusi said.

Minutes later, other Palestinian policemen joined in, and helped defend the officer from the crowd, which was trying to beat him.

"There were quite a few traffic jams in town, it was about ten minutes after prayers had ended in the nearby mosque, and it's a crowded area," said Suleiman Amran, chief of the Jenin District in the PA police. "But we managed to reach him quickly."

Palestinian police closed off the area and fired in the air to disperse the crowd.

"The traffic policeman protected him with his body, and so did the others," Jayusi said. "Plainclothes security forces put him into a civilian car. One drove, and two lay on top of him to protect him."

Minutes after the officer was taken, the crowd set his car on fire. Jayusi said children had done it.

"He was brought to my office in the Muqata, and I could see he was extremely stressed," said Amran. "But we gave him juice, and I spoke to him with the help of an interpreter from the counter intelligence forces. I told him he could calm down, that he was in a safe place and that we would make sure he returned home to his family. I spoke to the coordination and liaison officer, who spoke to his Israeli colleague. We did everything to avoid a disaster."

Palestinian sources said that during the incident, people in the crowd had snatched the officer's handgun. But the officer himself said afterward that he had not been armed, contrary to yet another instruction in the territories.

"Meanwhile, militants in a passing car fired at the Muqata, but we kept our cool," Amran said. "When we parted, he thanked us all and hugged my officers. As far as we're concerned it was a great success."

Jayusi commented that the Palestinian police had proved it could handle such cases, and that Israel should enable Israeli Arabs to visit the city.

The officer was returned to the IDF at 1:20 P.M., a little more than an hour after he had entered Jenin.

Colonel Mordechai Almoz of the Central Command held an inquiry into the incident.

Military sources said that a disciplinary hearing would probably be held for the Israeli officer.

"This is a very embarrassing event," one officer said. "We keep warning people not to enter those areas of the Palestinian Authority, only to have one of our officers - and not any officer but a Central Command safety officer - violate every possible instruction and enter Jenin. It was very lucky for us that the Palestinian police did the right thing."

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