The story began last Sunday in northern Gush Katif. The army demolished several abandoned structures, in fear that the Jewish residents would camp out there before and during the disengagement. The Gush Katif residents then responded by taking over another abandoned building nearby - and on Wednesday morning, IDF forces arrived to empty out the building.
Several yeshiva students were taken out peacefully - one was caught on camera being carried out as he continued to study Mishna (the Oral Law) - but then things began to heat up. According to the press reports, youngsters on the roof "infuriated the local population" by writing on the outside wall of the building, in Hebrew, "Muhammed Pig!" The Arabs then began to hurl rocks at the Jews, the Jews responded in kind, and the soldiers were not able to restore peace.
An eyewitness on the scene - who wishes to be known only as A.D. - said, however, that this was not what happened. "No, no," he told Arutz-7 today. "The Arabs there don't even know how to read Hebrew. What happened was that one Jew threw rocks, and then about 30 Arabs came out and started pounding everything in sight with rocks. It was a terrible disgrace for the IDF - I came home all in shock at what I had seen. The soldiers were simply unable to protect themselves from this onslaught, even though the Arabs were pounding the jeeps and everything. The only time the soldiers did something real was when the Jews started throwing rocks back! But now I understand how the intifada started - because the Arabs who live in this area - the Muwasi - they are very quiet; they never threw rocks at all. But now they see that the army is so weak, they realize that they have nothing to be afraid of. They were really pounding us."
The main story of the day, however, was the alleged "lynching" of a young Arab boy. Israel Radio and Army Radio continually used this word to describe what happened, and Israeli television stations showed footage of an Arab lying on the ground and then two Jewish boys running towards him and throwing rocks at him.
"That's not the story!" said A.D. "I saw this same Arab get hit in the head with a rock - and yet he continued to throw rocks, like a tiger, for the next 15 minutes! And then I saw some reporters go over to him and tell him to lie down and act as if he was unconscious. Later on, he was taken out walking on his own, holding on to a soldier; all this talk of his being mortally wounded is total nonsense. In addition, he was taken to a hospital in Gaza; if he was really mortally wounded, they would have taken him to Soroka in Be'er Sheva."
In fact, media reports continued throughout the next day to report that he was still mortally wounded - though even Arab sources had admitted by then that he had "regained consciousness," was talking and felt fine. By Friday, the victim of the alleged "lynching" was reported to be "lightly hurt."
A.D. said that a friend of his was also there at the time, saw the same thing and could corroborate the story. "The problem is that he works for a certain media source and refuses to talk to anyone in the media about it," A.D. said.
Prime Minister Sharon took advantage of the "lynching" reports to promote his political agenda. "The attack on the Palestinian teenager is a barbaric, wild and heartless act," Sharon told the Yediot Acharonot newspaper. "What is happening in front of our eyes is not a battle over disengagement from Gaza, but a battle over the image of the state. This is not a situation I will allow to continue."
Several yeshiva students were taken out peacefully - one was caught on camera being carried out as he continued to study Mishna (the Oral Law) - but then things began to heat up. According to the press reports, youngsters on the roof "infuriated the local population" by writing on the outside wall of the building, in Hebrew, "Muhammed Pig!" The Arabs then began to hurl rocks at the Jews, the Jews responded in kind, and the soldiers were not able to restore peace.
An eyewitness on the scene - who wishes to be known only as A.D. - said, however, that this was not what happened. "No, no," he told Arutz-7 today. "The Arabs there don't even know how to read Hebrew. What happened was that one Jew threw rocks, and then about 30 Arabs came out and started pounding everything in sight with rocks. It was a terrible disgrace for the IDF - I came home all in shock at what I had seen. The soldiers were simply unable to protect themselves from this onslaught, even though the Arabs were pounding the jeeps and everything. The only time the soldiers did something real was when the Jews started throwing rocks back! But now I understand how the intifada started - because the Arabs who live in this area - the Muwasi - they are very quiet; they never threw rocks at all. But now they see that the army is so weak, they realize that they have nothing to be afraid of. They were really pounding us."
The main story of the day, however, was the alleged "lynching" of a young Arab boy. Israel Radio and Army Radio continually used this word to describe what happened, and Israeli television stations showed footage of an Arab lying on the ground and then two Jewish boys running towards him and throwing rocks at him.
"That's not the story!" said A.D. "I saw this same Arab get hit in the head with a rock - and yet he continued to throw rocks, like a tiger, for the next 15 minutes! And then I saw some reporters go over to him and tell him to lie down and act as if he was unconscious. Later on, he was taken out walking on his own, holding on to a soldier; all this talk of his being mortally wounded is total nonsense. In addition, he was taken to a hospital in Gaza; if he was really mortally wounded, they would have taken him to Soroka in Be'er Sheva."
In fact, media reports continued throughout the next day to report that he was still mortally wounded - though even Arab sources had admitted by then that he had "regained consciousness," was talking and felt fine. By Friday, the victim of the alleged "lynching" was reported to be "lightly hurt."
A.D. said that a friend of his was also there at the time, saw the same thing and could corroborate the story. "The problem is that he works for a certain media source and refuses to talk to anyone in the media about it," A.D. said.
Prime Minister Sharon took advantage of the "lynching" reports to promote his political agenda. "The attack on the Palestinian teenager is a barbaric, wild and heartless act," Sharon told the Yediot Acharonot newspaper. "What is happening in front of our eyes is not a battle over disengagement from Gaza, but a battle over the image of the state. This is not a situation I will allow to continue."