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.

Just this week, settler Ze’ev Braude who shot and injured Palestinians in Hebron had his indictment rescinded and was released due to the court’s decision not to disclose “classified information,” citing security concerns. Clearly “security” trumps justice and as such, yet another violent Israeli living in the occupied territories dodges punishment, free to continue endangering lives in the name of state security.

Policeman Yoav met me at the station in plain clothes and asked me to wait while he found a room for us. His dyed silver hair spiked up with gel made him look rather pubescent for a middle-aged police officer. While uploading the old IBM computer in the small room where a Beitar Jerusalem poster was hanging, I asked him how things were in Hebron today, where he is stationed. He said fine and mentioned that he had never seen me before, and then asked if I am “affiliated” with any group.

When I replied “Ta’ayush,” he said, “oh yes, with Ezra” and proceeded to inquire as to who the leader of our group is and who organizes and arranges our activities. I asked how this is relevant to the testimony and he said it is not, that he is just curious. I reserved my right to remain silent, despite the fact that nothing about our activities is covert and I’m certain the police is well aware of what we do.

He typed quite slowly, with both his index fingers, and I found it amusing when he asked me how to spell Ta’ayush, which he thought was a Hebrew acronym, unaware that it is in fact a term in Arabic meaning “life in common.”

I proceeded to present my testimony, telling him about what I saw, about the blatant violence inflicted on us under the gaze of the IDF and police, who did nothing to curtail it, much less take the attackers into custody. He asked some questions of clarification and that was it. While waiting quite a while for the archaic, dusty printer to work, the policeman turned to me and said, “I’m not used to this office. I have much better conditions in Hebron.” It left me wondering to which side of the Green Line the authorities will send the next new batch of computers and printers they receive.

Here is a video clip of part of the assault: