A week ago, police arrived to cause problems [yet again] in the town of Yitzhar, which lies just east of the ancient city of Shchem. Unfortunately, some of you only know this city by its fake name of Nablus, a bastardization of the Roman "Neopolis."
The police visit resulted in nine arrests and one hospitalization of Yitzhar residents. The leftist, State (yes, this is redundant, I know) news media spent the entire segment, dedicated to this news item, presenting the police perspective of what had occurred, demonizing the settlers. No surprises here.
However, there appears to be a connection between the police action to demolish two caravans (mobile homes) to the alleged firing of a Qassam rocket by a Jew from this same town toward an Arab target.
When I heard about this incident, the first question I asked was, "Did they determine the trajectory of the rocket?" It could easily have been a failed attempt by an Arab, now trying to cover up his attempt [or his failure, or both] by lying and blaming Jews. It would not be the first time.
So what really happened in Yitzhar over the last couple of weeks? The following is a report from my source, a resident of one the hills adjacent to Yitzhar:
Last week at 4:30 in the morning a mob of forces from the riot police, plain clothesmen, and Shabba"k (General Security Service), came to Yitzhar and did a raid over the town on the claim that someone from the town fired a rocket into the air. They searched thoroughly for two hours with special bomb-detecting dogs for explosive material, but found nothing. Then they arrested Rabbi Itzik Shapira (Principal of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshivah) and the Ravsha"tz (town security chief) for investigation. No results in the end.
At 7:30 AM, they made their way to the main entrance of the town to leave, and then suddenly they went in the direction of the hills,...in order to cause destruction. They caught us by surprise and succeeded in destroying two structures.
The question I should have asked was, "Did anyone actually see any evidence of a rocket?"
My guess that there may very well have been a rocket, fired by whom, I do not know. What I am sure about is that Yitzhar serves as one of the government's "Expulsion Laboratories," testing various ways to aggravate the residents and then observe their reactions.
If the government is able to destroy Yitzhar (May God forbid!), then many of the residents of the less ideological towns in Efraim and West Mennashe (Samaria) may just pick up and go quietly. That seems to be the government's working hypothesis, at any rate.
you might be right, and there is a certain logic to it.
ReplyDeletePersonally I would think it smarter to leave Yitzhar for last, if I was in charge of this, because they would be the hardest to evict. Get rid of the easy ones first and isolate them.
but there is a logic to the way you see what is happening