Biddu protest
Biddu protest Israel news photo: Flash 90

Palestinian Authority Arabs carried out a large scale "people power" attack on a Jewish community Sunday, Arutz Sheva has learned. The attack appears to mark the beginning of the new PA tactic against Israel, which is being launched along with the appeal by Mahmoud Abbas to the United Nations for statehood.

Arabs in a convoy of 40 to 50 cars neared the Jewish community of Negohot near Hevron, drove along a road that runs close to the community's security fence, taunted and jeered – while IDF soldiers looked on and did nothing.

Naor Tzimerman, who heads the community's secretariat, told Arutz Sheva that the event took place in the early afternoon Sunday. Children from the community reported that "a convoy of dozens of cars was driving from Adorayim toward the community, waving PLO flags, honking horns, displaying posters and pictures. Right after that, we heard the noise from the direction of the road. This is a road that is about 10 meters distant from the community's fence.

"We saw dozens of vehicles driving with their V signs, epithets and lewd gestures. We told the kids to move back from the edge of the road. They slowed down to a speed of about 5-10 kph," he recounted. 

"The army did nothing," added an exasperated Tzimerman, who noted that there is an army position a few meters away from where the convoy passed. In fact, he explained, in order to carry out a U-turn, the convoy had to drive up to the military position – yet even then, the soldiers did nothing to stop the vehicles.

The IDF has decided to react only to violence, fearing that a reaction to marches or convoys may cause Arab violence to erupt. The unanswered questions are timing and judgment. 

Tzimerman noted that a person getting out of his car at the point where the U-turn was carried out could reach one of the community's homes in a matter of seconds. The IDF had claimed last week  it has drawn a "red line" beyond which Arab demonstrators cannot approach a  community.

He added that the road used by the Arabs was opened to PA Arab traffic by a High Court decision that also allowed PA Arab traffic on Route 443. 

Arabs also held signs and flags at a small protest near the village of Biddu, not far from Ramallah. The sign protested that the Arab controlled enclaves are "Bantustans" -- a public relations ploy to encourage comparison to black enclaves in apartheid-era South Africa.