Ma’aleh Ha’arba’a: Two youths arrested over Shabbat in conflicts

Saturday night, August 27 20:58 A group of youths stayed over Shabbat at the Ma’aleh Ha’arba’a outpost near Beit El. IDF forces arrived at the site several times during Shabbat and arrested two youths.
According to residents of the outpost Arabs approached the site on Friday. The residents chased them back to their village. On Shabbat at night army troops under the command of the deputy brigade commander of the Binyamin region arrived at the outpost. The deputy brigade commander claimed that the site was under a closed military zone decree, but refused to present the decree. The residents refused to leave and the army left the site.
On Shabbat afternoon tens of Arabs from the village of Dura el Kara approached the outpost. The residents chased them away and in doing so reached the entrance of the village. According to the outpost residents large forces of police, army and border police arrived within several minutes at the outpost and began to chase after them. The residents fled the scene and the forces left the area after confiscating all of the personal equipment that was at the site, including tefilin, food, personal bags and more.
The residents returned to the site and explained to the soldier at the nearby guard post that if the equipment that was confiscated without a warrant wasn’t returned, they would return to the Arab village. The soldier clarified the matter with his commander and informed them that the equipment would be left at the gas station at the entrance to Beit El. The residents reiterated that they demand that the equipment be returned to the outpost, and the soldier informed them that the equipment would be left with the soldier on guard duty at the entrance to the base.
In response the residents went for a walk near the Arab village. During their walk no conflicts occurred between them and the Arabs.
At approximately 17:00 several youths left the outpost in order to bring food from Beit El for the third Shabbat meal. The Binyamin deputy brigade commander arrived at the site with several soldiers and succeeded in catching two of the youths. According to the residents the deputy brigade commander pursued several of the youths and threatened to pull their payot (sidelocks) and beat them. The two detainees were transported to the Binyamin police station in violation of Shabbat.
Honenu attorney Adi Kedar is currently clarifying the cause of arrest of the two youths. As stated previously, during the entire incident neither the soldiers nor the police presented a closed military zone decree.
The outpost residents relayed that, “the attempts by the IDF to destroy more and more new communities won’t succeed. We will continue to steadfastly maintain this site and will not give up.” The residents also stated that, “the Shabbat violations by the IDF are a serious issue and we call on the religious soldiers and policemen who participated in the incidents today to ask their rabbis if it is permissible to violate Shabbat in order to confiscate food and tefilin from an outpost.”