Settler youths who staged kidnapping nearly lynched
Palestinian security forces able to extract settler teenagers from angry local mob after former caught breaking into Palestinian car
Palestinian witnesses said the teens broke into a parked vehicle and were nearly lynched by the mob that quickly assembled at the scene. “We hit them everywhere, gave them a ‘generous’ welcome and didn’t leave any part of them untouched,” one of the Palestinians who witnessed the scene told Ynet.
The two apparently tried to escape after having been caught in the act of breaking into a Palestinian car.
It was later reported that the investigation revealed that the settlers were planning to set Palestinian vehicles on fire.
The Palestinians said that the settler youths also stabbed and lightly wounded a passerby.
Luckily, Palestinian security forces managed to extract the youths in time. For a yet unexplained reason, the Israeli boys decided to alert Israeli forces to the scene by lying and saying they had been abducted. IDF, Shin Bet and police forces were all summoned to the scene and were outraged to find they'd been had.
“Close to 2:15 am, one of my neighbors called and told me that he saw teenagers trying to break into my car,” said al-Hamid, “I quickly went up to the roof of my house and saw the settlers, but we weren’t sure if they were armed or not because they are usually armed from head to toe.”
Abd al-Hamid said that he threw a rock at the settlers and saw that they were unarmed. Afterwards he went downstairs with some of his neighbors and tried catching the two.
“In my opinion, they'll need an intense massage to relax from the ‘warm welcome’ they received,” said one of the Palestinians present. “This is the first time since ’67 that I truly feel like a human being, because I was finally able to release all the pent up rage and frustration caused by what they are doing to our land, our property and our people,” he added.
After the two were beaten for some time, Abd al-Hamid rescued the settlers and called the governor of Nablus who notified the Palestinian liaisons, who, in turn, contacted their Israeli counterparts.
Israeli liaison representatives apologized to the residents on the youth's behalf.
'You're the occupier, you're responsible'
“The liaison representative expressed his sorrow for what had happened. He thanked us for not harming the youngsters and promised to deal with the issue”, said al-Hamid. “I told him, here take your two dogs and deal with them. As long as you are the occupier, you need to safeguard my security and that of my property,” he added.
According to him, a few months ago settlers caused $15,000 worth of damage to his truck. “They referred me to the Ariel police department where I filed a complaint, but nothing came of it.
"How can a complaint be taken care of if the police officer and the judge are on the settlers’ side. At least tonight we were successful in preventing harm and we gave them something to remember,” he said.
Investigators have so far gleaned that the two boys are students at the Yeshiva High School in Yitzhar, but that they are not residents of the settlement.
“They were trying to stir a provocation within the village,” a defense official told Ynet.
Officials in Yitzhar said it was the school's responsibility to deal with students from out of town. The Yeshiva High School has yet to respond to the incident.
Efrat Weiss also contributed to this article
