“I was shocked that they did it with so much hatred. Thirteen of us arrived there, and we were attacked by four people, who were urged on by others,” -Keren, Ta’ayush Activist.
Settlers Attacking at Hilltop 18
Yesterday masked settler youth attacked Ta’ayush activists at an illegal outpost called Hilltop 18 near the mega settlement of Kiryat Arba in the South Mount Hebron Hills. This is an outpost that Ta’ayush has been monitoring for over one year and Mairav/I have written about in Haaretz. Below is a video of settler demi-god Baruch Marzel attacking Ta’ayush activists at Hilltop 18 last April.
The settlers reacted with pure violence and hatred towards Ta’ayush activists who came to the outpost in order to monitor its construction which has been deemed illegal by international and Israeli law. The right of center mass daily Yediot Aharont has run a typically skewed account of the day’s events. Please follow the link for video form Ta’ayush. (Hebrew Link). I will be posting video of the event when I have it. Notice that no comment is made about how the army/police handled the settlers obivious attacks.
No settlers were arrested or charged with any crime despite the clear violence of the attacks. This attack has come a day after the Sheikh Jarrah protest which has garned international headlines. Unfortunately, this attack will not penetrate mainstream media outlets in the same way despite its obvious news quality. Even the left leaning daily Haaretz is not covering the crimes. Only Yediot because of the papers obvious right wing leanings.
#1 by jeffrey /jew4palestine on January 24th, 2010
Dude I cant tell you enough what great work you do keep it up!
#2 by Mary Hughes-Thompson on January 25th, 2010
The first time I met these wonderful people was in Yanoun, near Nablus in 2002 where they were protecting the villagers from nightly attacks by illegal settlers from Itamar. The settlers had poisoned the village well and destroyed the generator, and all the villagers had fled in fear for their lives. The next day I was beaten and robbed by some of these same settlers. Until then I had been unaware of the Israeli peace activists who put themselves on the front lines to protect innocent Palestinian farmers and villagers from crazed settlers.
Keep up the good work. Israel works hard to keep us from visiting our Palestinian friends. You are our best hope for justice for Palestine.