Residents of Neve Tzuf in the Binyamin region held protests on Tuesday and Wednesday after Border Police officers and IDF soldiers destroyed part of the security fence surrounding the town. Wednesday evening, residents said the protests were not over, and called on the IDF to stay out of political matters.
Community spokesman Oded Stern said the matter began when a number of local youths planted fruit trees over a year ago, shortly before the beginning of the Shemittah (sabbatical) year. The youths also built a small shack next to the area in which they were working, he said.
The youths recently received a destruction order for the building, and on Tuesday morning large forces of IDF, Border Police and Yassam officers arrived in the town. “We all thought they had come to destroy the illegal structure that, obviously, endangered the Middle East and regional calm, but to our surprise they destroyed a kilometer of fence in order to reach the structure,” Stern explained.
The fence was built seven years ago, and runs between houses and a nearby highway, Stern said. Not all residents of Neve Tzuf wanted the fence to be built, he said, but since it was built, security was coordinated in a manner that took the fence for granted.
Now that a large part of the northern part of the fence has been demolished, he said, some houses are only 70 or 80 meters from the highway. “Any Palestinian could cross that space and carry out an attack, G-d forbid,” he warned.
Stern expressed suspicious regarding the timing of the incident. “Apparently elections are on the horizon and these things are important to someone in politics, and someone in the [defense] apparatus is cooperating,” he said.
So far, residents of Neve Tzuf have protested by blocking the southern entrance to the town. More actions are planned, Stern said. “There is a price, and this isn't the first time, they need to know that there's a price for every demolition... The Yassam forces are now constantly busy with the roadblocks we made, and we have more waiting for them.”
During Wednesday morning's protest, residents say, a representative of the Civil Administration appeared and began a verbal confrontation with protesters. The representative then left in his car, and ran over a protester on the way out, they said. The protester was wounded and required hospital care. Civil Administration officials denied the accusation, and said no representative had been present during the protest.
Stern said residents were hoping the army would stay out of any future protests or clashes involving the fence. “If we are breaking the law, the Israeli police can arrest us. It's not proper for the Israel Defense Forces to clash with us; that's not the soldiers' job,” he said.