Checkpoint near Bat Ayin
Checkpoint near Bat AyinIsrael national news: Flash 90

Police arrested seven pro-Arab anarchists on the morning of the Sabbath when they tried to provoke a violent clash with Jewish residents of Bat Ayin, located west of Efrat. The pro-Arab group claimed its members were in the area to help Arab farmers.

The presence of pro-Arab activists, several of them non-Jews from outside the country and others from the Israeli branch of the Reform movement, has grown throughout Judea and Samaria over the past three years.

Saturday’s arrests followed almost daily harassment of Bay Ayin residents who have been trying to build a synagogue near their community on government land that Arabs use as a lookout point over the Jewish community.

An axe-wielding Arab terrorist three months ago murdered a young boy and wounded one other in attack on Bat Ayin.

The most serous confrontation between Arabs and the Jewish residents occurred on the eve of Passover, one week after the murder. Arabs threw rocks at the Jews as they were reciting for the Blessing of the Sun, which occurs once every 28 years.