IDF commanders concerned situation in territories may deteriorate further with diplomatic crisis looming in September when Palestinians make bid for UN recognition.
The IDF is alarmed by the increase in clashes in the West Bank between Palestinian villagers and settlers in nearby outposts and by the growing harassment of senior army officers and civil servants by right-wing extremists.
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Last week settlers burned a Palestinian field in the West Bank village of Burin, destroying more than 400 trees, after two Palestinians had stolen a car belonging to a settler from the nearby Yitzhar settlement.
Police arrested a number of suspects – the arson was video-taped from a distance by a Palestinian B’Tselem activist. But the court released the suspects for lack of evidence.
On the same day, Yitzhar’s secretariat sent a threatening letter to the mayor of the nearby village of Hawara, issuing a 24-hour ultimatum to return the stolen car and turn in the thieves. Otherwise, the letter warned, “it will be impossible to stop the residents’ rage.”
On June 7 the mosque in al-Mueir village was set on fire – the fourth mosque arson in a year and a half. The arsonists painted “price tag” on the mosque wall. Police believe the act was the settlers’ response to the Israel Lands Administration’s decision to evacuate structures in a nearbly illegal outpost.
Meanwhile, the defense establishment is planning moves that are likely to heat up the atmosphere even further. The state has pledged to the High Court of Justice to evacuate three buildings in the illegal Migron outpost by July 24. By July 20 outgoing Justice Ayala Procaccia is due to hand down the verdict in the case of a petition to tear down nine structures in the Ofra settlement.
The state has also promised to remove settlers’ facilities set up illegally on private Palestinian lands in three locations by the end of August.
(Read more from haaretz.com)