In huge demonstration against lawless settler outpost, 500 Palestinians are teargassed by Israeli army

Protesters march to Israeli outpost near Israeli settlement of Ofra  Photo:  Noah Browning

(April 26, 2013) Reuters’ Noah Browning reports that 500 Palestinians were violently dispersed by the Israeli army as they marched toward an illegal Israeli settler outpost northeast of Ramallah. The protesters came from the adjacent village of Deir Jarir (also spelled Deir Jareer) and were reacting to recent attacks on their community by settlers from Ofra and its nearby outpost. Browning describes the size of this demonstration as “the largest of its kind in recent years.”

The peaceful main demonstration, which included a Muslim and a Christian cleric, was preceded by a group of stone-throwing youths. The entire group, which included residents of the nearby village of Silwad and, according to various reports on Twitter, was forced to retreat when the army fired rubber bullets and tear gas at the protesters.

The march was a response to the recent destruction of 10 cars (see end of Ynet article, here), the planting of an Israeli flag and the harassment of local residents by the settlers from the nearby outpost. According to Ma’an News, the residents of Silwad had previously set fire to some trailers in the outpost after a resident of their village was attacked by area settlers. As the article states, settler attacks against Palestinians are usually ignored by the Israeli authorities. In addition to 120 settlements, all of which are illegal according to international law, there are about 100 unauthorized outposts which are illegal even under Israeli law. In practice this enables the Israeli government to deny responsibility for the existence of the outposts and allows the confiscation of Palestinian land by the settlers. In many cases the government clandestinely finances these communities and they are defended by the army.

Yesh Din, the Israeli human rights organization, has recently issued a report focusing on how one such outpost has been built with government support. The report describes the resulting damage and dispossession caused to the local Palestinian residents.