Youths detained on suspicion of burning Arab fields

Thursday, June 13, 10:53 On Wednesday, June 12 at approximately 21:30 several shots were fired at a Jewish bus belonging to the Afikim bus company as it passed through the outskirts of the Arab town of Hawara and was approaching the Shomron Territorial Brigade base. After examination of the bullets by a police laboratory it was determined that they were fired from a hunting rifle. A short time after the incident residents of Burin, an Arab village neighboring Hawara, complained that fields in the village had been set on fire. Police and army forces began combing the area and blocked the entrance to the hilltop community Sneh Ya’akov, a.k.a. Givat Ronen, one of the hilltop communities near Yitzhar.
Five youths in a vehicle who had with them many musical instruments were detained on suspicion of involvement with the arson as they left a campfire event which had taken place at Sneh Ya’akov. The policemen accused the youth of fleeing a scene of crime, detained them and took them to the Ariel Police Station for interrogation. Two additional youth who were at a spring near the Shomron Territorial Brigade base were also detained on suspicion of involvement with the arson and taken to the Ariel Police Station.
After waiting in the police station for a short time the five youth detained while traveling were unconditionally released without interrogation. The two other detainees were transferred to the Central Unit of the Yehuda and Shomron Police Station in Ma’aleh Adumim where they were interrogated. Later today (Thursday, June 13) they will be brought to the Jerusalem Magistrate Court. Honenu attorney David HaLevi will represent them.