Three young fathers are under house arrest and forbidden to return to their homes, leaving only one adult male in their pioneer startup community in southern Judea. They are accused of kidnapping an assaulting an Arab arsonist - against whom all charges have been dropped.
The three say they merely made a citizen's arrest, and then transferred the Arab to an army force, after he set fire to their fields.
The three, each with several children, are recent returnees to observant Judaism, and barely support their families with flocks of sheep and odd jobs. One of the three is a veteran of the IDF's most elite Matkal commando unit.
The story began on a Sabbath day two months ago, when a group of Arabs and Israelis arrived in the Jewish-owned fields of Mitzpeh Asael, in the South Mt. Hevron district. "This was clearly a group of provocateurs," said Shmuel Medad, who heads the Honenu civil rights organization, which is spearheading the legal campaign on behalf of the three Jews.
The "visitors" set one of the fields on fire, the arrestees said, and the blaze began spreading rapidly. "G-d had mercy," Medad said, "and the fire stopped only a few meters away from one of the caravans."
"One of the arsonists then ran towards the Jews with a hoe in hand," Medad continued. "The Jewish residents caught him, and transferred him to an army force that arrived there a few minutes later. The soldiers also caught another arsonist."
The provocateurs claimed that the first Arab was tied to a pole, but the Jewish farmers deny this.
"At that point," Medad continued, "the Arab who was caught with the hoe said he required medical help, and at his request, was evacuated via Arab ambulance. He later surfaced with medical documents showing that he had been injured, but these turned out to be forged... When the police arrived, they arrested Eyal Rachamim, who serves as the security officer of the area, and then released from IDF custody the other Arab."
Police Tear Up Complaint
"That night, Eyal's neighbor Lior went to the police station to file a complaint against the arson. The investigator actually tore up the complaint - and then arrested him on charges of assault! Two days later, the police arrested a third Jewish resident, Mordechai."
The District Prosecution, headed by Attorney Yiska Liebowitz, decided to drop all charges against the Arab - even though, Medad says, "he changed his story! First he admitted setting the fire, saying he did it by mistake, and then he said he ran towards the Jews because he thought they set the fire. One of the judges in one of the courts noted that he changed his story, and wanted to release the Jews, but his decision was not implemented - and they ended up in jail for six weeks."
Complex Legal Process Ends With House Arrest and Electronic Ankle Bracelets
At one point, Be'er Sheva District Court Judge Ariel Vago agreed to a form of house arrest, and implied he would be willing to release them after a customary court-ordered review of their situation. The Prosecution appealed to the Supreme Court, where Justice Asher Gronis said they must remain in jail until after the report.
The report in fact turned out to be positive, but then another Be'er Sheva District Court judge, Varda Meroz, overturned the previous ruling and ordered them to jail - not just house arrest - until the end of the legal proceedings. The lawyer for the three then appealed to the Supreme Court, which "compromised" and sent them to house arrest at relatives, complete with electronic ankle bracelets, and forbidden to set foot outside except for Sabbath prayers.
"Three out of the four families in this budding community are now left without their husbands, fathers and providers," Medad says. "They are all but alone, and in addition to everything else, face an expensive and drawn-out legal process."
Living With Brother-in-Law
Lior, for instance, is living in his brother-in-law's small apartment in the Morasha (Musrara) neighborhood of Jerusalem. Yaakov, the brother-in-law - their wives are sisters - says the situation is very difficult: "He is used to being outside, and now he is cooped up in this small apartment, without his family. One time we left for the Sabbath, so that his family could stay with him here, but that is clearly not a long-term solution. His parents and other relatives are not religious and don't keep Kosher, so basically he has no other place to go other than here."
"My sister-in-law and the other wives are pretty strong," Yaakov says, "and they're not thinking of leaving, because that would basically mean the end of [the small community of] Asael
Medad says that this is clearly the goal of some in the judicial establishment: "They are goaded by hatred and their desire to break our backs - otherwise there is no explanation for their one-sided decisions and rulings."
Funds Established
Families in the Mt. Hevron area have established a fund to help the families, and Honenu has set up another one for their legal costs. To contribute, call Honenu at 02-960-5558, or in the U.S., 718-441-7300, or the Religious Council of the Mt. Hevron Regional Council at 02-996-9144.
Background of Asael
Asael began in 2001 as an official "forester's house" overlooking Israel's largest forest, the Yatir Forest, and later absorbed several families. It is located on state-owned lands, just southeast of the Jewish community of Shim'a (400 residents), and north of the Yatir army base. An order to evict the families has been frozen by the Defense Minister.