Haredi Orthodox Battalion in the Isr. Amy to assist and protect settlers

By: Madeeha Al-A’raj

The National Bureau for defending land and resisting settlements ( nbprs ) stated in its latest weekly report , that Israeli occupation State has been witnessing a widespread controversy over the last few days on the existence of a Haredi battalion officially works as a military unit attached to the occupation army named, “Netzah Yehuda Battalion”. The controversy stepped up in light of the martyrdom of the elderly Palestinian citizen Omar Abdel-Majid Asa’d in the Jlijilya village, Ramallah by soldiers affiliated to Haredi militia.
A report published by the Israeli newspaper “Haaretz” last week described the “Netzah Yehuda” in which religiously fanatic Jews serve, where some of them live in random settlement outposts in the West Bank, as a “militia that developed by the Israeli army,” and its soldiers carry out attacks against the Palestinians in the West Bank only, and on a permanent basis.
Endeavors have been made to dismantle this battalion, but estimates indicate that dismantling it would be a declaration of war for the settlers leadership. According to them, the battalion is a force that works for the benefit of the settlements. Knowing that, settlers’ leaders and Rabbis enter the battalion s headquarters and roam freely, giving lessons and talking with soldiers about military events, which turned it into a kind of militia. The tasks of the soldiers in this militia, according to the testimonies of demobilized soldiers and the investigations of the army itself, is to stop Palestinian cars, take their passengers off them, abuse them often, and physically assault them.
Sometimes they confiscate cars claiming that they are not fit for use, but then soldiers and officers in the battalion use them for their own needs. Soldiers of this battalion also break into Palestinian homes, breaking their doors and windows and assaulting their residents. Sometimes, they throw grenades at passing Palestinian cars, “just for fun”.
Israeli data showed that only 3.8% of crimes committed on a nationalistic background by Netzah Yehuda Battalion and settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, bt end without an indictment, as more than 221 Palestinian complaints filed between 2018-2020 out of 263 were closed. There are only 10 indictments filed so far, and the rest are still under investigation. Data from Yesh Din reveal that the majority of cases are listed against unknown persons, noting that between 2005 and 2021, 92% of the complaints filed were closed, and the reason for the closure of 65% of them was because the police couldn’t identify the perpetrators of those crimes.

On the other hand, the pace of settlement in Jerusalem has stepped up, as the occupation municipality and the Ministry of Construction and Housing intend to implement a new plan to build 5,250 settlement units, with the aim of surveying the so-called Green Line separating the occupied territories in 1948 and 1967, i.e. “the lands between the borders of West and East Jerusalem on an area of 840 dunums” from the lands of the hills southwest of the occupied Jerusalem.
The new Israeli plan targets the areas southwest of Jerusalem that starts from the lands of the villages of Ein Karem, Walaja, Sataf, and Malha, whose inhabitants were expelled by the occupation in 1948, and a huge zoo was built on part of the Malha lands. The plan was put forward in 2018, but it faced objections submitted by some Environmental organizations and other activists, but rejected, and the plan was approved last week, and NIS 2.8 billion was allocated for it.
In a ridiculous exchange at the expense of the Palestinians, the Minister of the Occupation Army, Benny Gantz, is discussing a plan presented to him to evacuate the Biblical School from the “Homesh” settlement in exchange for legalizing the “Eviatar” outpost, to be built on Mount Sobeih in the Beita village. The biblical settlement still present in the evacuated Homesh settlement, and the legalization of the “Eviatar” settlement outpost built on lands privately owned by the Palestinians, knowing that the legal advisor to the outgoing Israeli government, Avichai Mandelblit, approved the plan to establish the “Eviatar outpost.”

List of Israeli Occupation and Settlers Assaults over the Last Week
Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
• Order to demolish dozens of commercial establishments in the Wadi al-Joz Neighborhood in the industrial area to the implement the “Silicon Valley” project there. This project was put forward by the occupation municipality in mid-2020, as part of a 5-year government initiative worth NIS 2.1 billion to be built on 200,000m2 for “high-tech companies, hotels and various commercial spaces.”
• Forcing the families of Dabash and Al Karaki to evacate their homes in Qaisan in the town of Sur Baher, to demolish them under the pretext of building without a permit.
Hebron:
• Bulldozing lands in Tarqumiya town 2 weeks ago to build a road adjacent to the “Telm” settlement built on the lands of the town, estimated at 2500 dunms.
• Bulldozing and assaulting farmers and uprooting trees in the Khallet Salameh and Marah Suleiman areas.
• Throwing stones at Palestinian vehicles, east of Hebron, smashing windows of some houses.
• Chanting racist slogans on the bypass road n. 60, and raised Israeli flags.
Bethlehem:
• Order to demolishing an agricultural well in the “Wadi Al-Abyar” area in the Khader town, bulldozing vast areas of Kisan village lands east of Bethlehem, estimated at more than 30 dunums, with the aim of expanding the settlement’s borders.
• Wounding Mohamed Abdel Fattah Shalaldeh, 70, after being attacked by settlers.
• Order to demolish 5 agricultural rooms in the Nahalin town, west of Bethlehem, on the pretext of not having a license.
Nablus:
• Bulldozing lands belonging to the Joreesh town, south of Nablus in favor of the settlements.
• Building a settlement road between the Majdal Bani Fadel and Aqraba towns, south of Nablus, to confiscate the lands.
• Demolishing a 250-cube water tank in the village of Frosh Beit Dajan, east of Nablus, on the pretext that it was located in Area C.
• Handing over 9 orders to stop construction in the Qariout village, southeast of Nablus, knowing that it had licenses from the local government.
Salfeet:
• Uprooting and breaking about 40 olive trees in the Yasof town, 50 grape seedlings in Kafr ad-Dik and 60 olive plantations, in the “Al-Ras” area west of Salfeet, and they broke the windows and doors of an agricultural room there. Noting that three months ago, the occupation bulldozers uprooted 250 olive trees in the same area.
• Bulldozing lands in the Ezbet Abu Adam area, in the Sarta village, west of Salfeet, for the Israeli company Mekorot, with the aim of constructing a water line, with a 12-meter-wide line for the "Burkan" settlement.
• Uprooting 85 olive trees in the Khirbet Jalal al-Din area, northeast of Bruqin, west of Salfeet.
• Storming Islamic shrines in the Kifl Haris town, destroyed 3 citizens vehicles.

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