Facing Eviction, Settlers Vandalize IDF Base

By Haaretz December 13, 2011

Fifty settler youth entered a central West Bank military base early Tuesday morning, threw rocks, vandalized military vehicles, and caused general mayhem. The settlers were acting in response to a rumor that the IDF would act to evict West Bank settlement in accordance with a Supreme Court ruling August.

The attack on a base near the West Bank city of Tul Karm, included the pelting of the deputy Regional Brigade commander with stones, setting fires, and the throwing of paint. The youths were repelled by security forces.

Earlier during the night, the IDF and police rushed to the otherwise quiet border with Jordan after a group of 17 right-wing activists, 3 of them minors, occupied structures near the border. The activists said the action was intended as a message to Jordanian authorities to keep out of Temple Mount affairs.

The IDF and police surrounded the activists, who were hilltop youth, and prepared to evacuate. Four other activists were arrested before joining the group on the border. The activists seized abandoned churches near the Qasr al-Yahud holy site, which is the believed site of Jesus’ baptism.

The activists, accompanied by television crews, cut their way through a fence that used to protect a minefield surrounding the area, before it was cleared by Israeli security forces. The activists danced near the structures, entered one of the churches and chanted songs. They were all arrested.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO