ISRAELI ATTORNEY SAYS POLICE HARASS JEWISH SETTLERS

Israeljustice.com

  JERUSALEM -- An Israeli attorney has asserted that police have implemented a policy of harassment against residents of Jewish communities in the West Bank.  
    Defense Attorney Yehuda Shimon said that police raided the Jewish farming community, Havat Gilad, early Aug. 4 and arrested five Jews, including minors, but released them several hours later without charges.  
    Police told Shimon that the five refused to appear for a police investigation.  
    "There is a complaint that they participated two months ago in demonstrations against the evacuation of settlements in Samaria and the police assert that they were involved in disturbances," Shimon said. "I am asking how it is that no one invited them to an investigation until now."  
    Police officers also said they found a small amount of marijuana in the possessions of one of the five but later identified the substance as tobacco  
    "In my opinion, the police are not acting honestly and I have a reasonable suspicion that we are speaking about harassment against outposts residents and especially against Havat Gilad," Shimon said. "They want to weaken the opposition against future evictions and they want to show us who's the boss."  
    The Havat Gilad arrests came in the wake of the destruction of another Samarian outpost, Rehes Sela, on Aug. 3. Police declared the area a closed military zone and arrested eight of the 25 Jews at the outpost for refusing to leave and violating the military order.  
    Later, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee that he did not intend to create any new settlements and that they could expect the destruction of all 23 outposts imminently.  
    "We do not intend to build any new settlements and we are obligated to abstain from allocating land except for security or other immediate operational issues," Barak said. "There were 26 outposts that were established in 2001 and they are illegal. We intend to evict all 23...The eviction of the outposts is not a matter of years but of weeks and months."