IDF responds to violence at Yitzhar: Deploys Border Police unit to West Bank settlement
Army deploys unit to Yeshiva of settlement; says it views recent acts of violence against its soldiers as serious breach of law.
By JPOST.COM STAFFBorder Police at Yitzhar, April 11, 2014.(photo credit: IDF SPOKESMAN'S OFFICE)
The IDF has decided to immediately station a company of Border police soldiers at Yitzhar in response to the recent violence targeting security forces at the West Bank settlement.The IDF decided to deploy the forces to the Yeshiva of the settlement. The army chose to take over the Yeshiva building because it was used in the past by the settlers as a base from which they attacked Palestinian villages in the area as well as Israeli security forces, military sources said.The army said on Friday morning that it views the recent acts of violence against its forces as a serious breach of law and order and that it would use all means to end the violence. A spokesperson for the settlement said that the army's decision to take over the yeshiva was both "historical and hysterical," and that the IDF had crossed a clear red line in its actions."Would a mosque calling for Israel's destruction receive the same treatment," the spokesperson said. Hundreds of settlers from the settlement rioted and attacked security forces on Tuesday after the Border Police destroyed four illegally built structures and seized a caravan in the community.Security sources said the violence they encountered was extreme, adding that it included rock throwing, the burning of tires, and road blockages. Security forces dispersed the rioters with non-lethal crowd control measures.Following the clashes, settlers attacked a military post near Yitzhar set up to defend the settlement.The settlers destroyed generators, army equipment, heaters, and diesel fuel tanks, as six soldiers who manned the position stood on the side and failed to lift a finger to stop them.
The settlement is located approximately ten kilometers south of the Palestinian city of Nablus.Following the violence, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said that while not all Yitzhar residents are violent, Israel was determined to stop radical elements from violating the rule of law."We won't allow them to lift a hand against the IDF, the Border Police, the Israel Police, and the Civil Administration," he vowed. "They will have to obey the law like every Israeli citizen, and we will deal with violent activities with full severity, until they stop and understand that on does not lift a hand against the law," Ya'alon added.Yaakov Lappin contributed to this report.
