Outpost evacuated, settlers riot on Palestinian land

Settlers vandalized Palestinian property in several locations yesterday after the Israel Defense Forces evacuated the outpost of Yad Yair in the northern West Bank. The evacuation itself was not violent, but incidences of settler violence elsewhere in the West Bank were apparently a response to the evacuation.

"If the police haven't yet gotten it, then they will - there's a price to be paid for hitting settlements and outposts," a settler activist told Haaretz.

In one incident, a field north of Yitzhar was set ablaze. Two Yitzhar residents were detained for questioning.

Palestinians charged that settlers also set fire to olive groves in the villages of Madameh, Burin and Asira al-Kabaliya, south of Nablus. In addition, they said, stones were thrown at Palestinian cars in the area between Ramallah and Nablus. Near Dolev, northwest of Ramallah, settlers threw stones at Palestinian homes and caused major damage, the sources added.

Palestinians also charged that the army prevented Palestinian fire-fighters from reaching the scene of the fires for a long time. However, IDF sources claimed that the Civil Administration coordinated the arrival of the fire trucks from Ramallah and Nablus, but they were late in arriving, and therefore chose to blame the IDF for the delay.

Route 60 between Jerusalem and Hebron was blocked in several places yesterday and stones were thrown at Palestinian vehicles. Noam Federman, a former activist in the extreme right-wing movement Kach, was detained on suspicion of taking part in the blockages.

The Shiloh junction was also blocked, as were the area of Maon in the southern Hebron Hills and the entrance to Jerusalem.

In a separate incident yesterday, settlers allegedly vandalized an IDF position near the outpost of Horesh Yaron, northeast of the settlement of Talmon. According to the army, settlers damaged at least 10 cars belonging to reservists manning the post, including by slashing their tires, and soldiers from the territorial brigade were busy until last night helping them change the tires. The reservists had begun their tour of duty the day before.

Reports of the Yad Yair evacuation were sent to activists in various settlements by SMS and email, and right-wing extremists responded with what they call their "price-tag policy," which is intended to "make clear to the IDF and the police that they will pay for every blow against outposts or settlements," as one put it.

"There's no organized group," a right-wing activist told Haaretz. "But there is a decision that every time information about an assault comes - like yesterday at Yad Yair, like the mobile home at Yitzhar a month ago - people will go out and do what's necessary. They know exactly what to do. So the police and the army will think twice before they hit the settlements again. The settlers will return to Yad Yair at a time that is convenient for us."

At Yad Yair itself, located near Dolev, the residents - teens from the settlement of Nahliel and one family, who have been living at the site off and on for the past few months - protested peacefully as the memorial to terror victim Yair Mendelson, located at the heart of the outpost, was torn out.

A few soldiers were left on guard at Yad Yair yesterday. But Yaniv Aldobi, chairman of the Dolev secretariat, said the settlers intend to return to Yad Yair, some of whose land they have purchased.

"This is a sad day," Aldobi said. "The IDF broke an understanding with us over an organized move of the outpost to a site near Dolev. We secured an injunction from the High Court of Justice against the evacuation, but unfortunately, we didn't have time to get it to the army."

The State Prosecutor's Office said the outpost had already been destroyed by the time it learned about the settlers' bid for an injunction.

Aldobi accused the IDF of "giving the synagogue, which had been rebuilt after it was torched three times by the Palestinians, away on a silver platter, along with the memorial to Yair Mendelson, who was the first victim of the first intifada, after the Palestinians tried to vandalize the memorial several times unsuccessfully."

According to Dror Etkes of the Yesh Din organization, however, Yad Yair was not even an outpost, but merely a site visited from time to time by right-wing activists. The site had originally served as an IDF outpost, and after it was abandoned about two years ago, right-wing activists took it over.