Police Violence Documented

Arutz Sheva News - Thursday, 31 October 2002, 25 Cheshvan 5763
http://israelnn.com/news.php3?id=32805

A Jerusalem court has ordered the Israel Broadcasting Authority to give it all the pictures and films it has on the uprooting of the Gilad Farm. The police are searching for evidence against youths accused of acting violently against the police who came to evict them. Three youths from the Shomron area have already been questioned by police; one was to have been indicted today, and the others have been temporarily banned from areas in Yesha other than their own hometowns.

Complaints of police violence have also been filed. Yitzchak Shlissel has put together a series of photographs showing how some police officers violently attacked teenage protestors, which can be seen at Israel Destiny Shlissel noted that the media refused to show photos of young Jews being choked to the point of unconsciousness and being carried away on a stretcher. Meir Indor of Terror Victims Association, who was on-site for the Gilad uprooting, said that a photographer told him that his instructions were to bring back only pictures of settlers' violence against police.

Kedumim Mayor Daniella Weiss, a leader of the more hawkish elements in Yesha, said that she met this morning with some of the top army officers in the defense establishment, "and they had only praise and respect for the responsible and democratic manner in which we expressed our connection with the Land. These were their words; it's all written down… I was also on the scene the whole time, and I saw that the settlers conducted themselves in a most respectable manner. But then the special- unit police entered in a most brutal manner... Our only criticism is about the exaggerated use of force by the police against those who protested with integrity and faith against those who tried to take us down from a place that is ours."

Asked about voices within the Yesha Council calling for her ousting because her behavior "is harmful to the settlers' public image," Weiss responded:

"What I believe on this matter is that a certain virus has hit some of us, what I call 'how do we look.' Some think that if we want to succeed in building the land, we have to remain within the consensus and look good in everyone's eyes. My opinion is that most of the nation follows, admires, and draws strength from those who adhere to the truth... Some people want to be in the consensus, where it's more pleasant and comfortable. I believe that people engaged in the Zionist enterprise, or in any program in which they believe, must adhere to the truth. And what will bring us support is not if we speak more nicely, but if we speak more correctly, more truthfully.

Asked about the "illegality" of these activities and her "cooperation with delinquent youth," Weiss said, "The youth of the hilltops is our own children, I have children and grandchildren who all live in Yesha, and they are all youth of the hilltops - they live in Yesha, and they will continue to do so. We're not talking about marginal, delinquent youth, but rather the pride of our society. Of course, as in every society there are some who are wild and lawless, [but these are a tiny minority]... The Gilad Farm was built legally on privately-owned land, contrary to popular accusations... But I would like to ask, what about the tens of thousands of illegal Arab structures, in violation of many different regulations, that are built alongside highways and endanger Jewish traffic? Why is that those who talk about the law don't take steps to have them torn down? Why do you allow the law to be trampled year after year, endangering lives by elements that lift their heads and don't exactly have the State's best interests in mind?… We will continue to build more and more homes and communities, and they will all be legal, and if someone somewhere is found to be in technical violation of one clause or another, then the government knows very well how to find ways to approve these as well…"