Esh Kodesh: Tuesday’s detainees will be brought to court, disturbances expected again on Wednesday

Wednesday, January 2, 2013, 7:33 On Tuesday, January 1, Arabs arrived at the community of Esh Kodesh in the Binyamin region with authorization from and guarded by the army, in order to plow fields within the area of the community. According to residents of Esh Kodesh the plowing facilitated by the army provides the Arabs with an opportunity to scout out the community, including ways of entry and endangers the community’s security.
During the course of disturbances which developed during the plowing one of the residents of Esh Kodesh saw an Arab lift a rock with the intent to throw it at him. The Esh Kodesh resident pretended to draw a weapon in order to deter the Arab, even though he had no weapon of any sort on him. Border police at the scene rushed over to the Esh Kodesh resident and very violently detained him, despite his explanation that he had no weapon on him and that he was only trying to deter the Arab. The policemen sprayed tear gas in the detainee’s face and beat him in all parts of his body. The detainee, who suffers from asthma, required medical treatment which was given at the scene due to the refusal of the policemen to agree to the recommendation of the ambulance crew to evacuate him to hospital. Later the detainee was also charged with assaulting a policeman.
An additional youth was detained on suspicion of assaulting a policeman. Two other youths on the scene were also detained.
This Wednesday Arabs are expected to once again plow at Esh Kodesh while guarded by Israeli defense forces.
Honenu reports that on Wednesday two of the detainees from Tuesday will be brought to court for a deliberation on extending their remand.
The detainees are accused of assault and deny the charges. Additionally two minors were detained on Tuesday and released after a brief interrogation. The army informed representatives of Esh Kodesh that there is no change in schedule and that on Wednesday and Thursday local Arabs will continue to plow in the area of Esh Kodesh, guarded by police and army forces.
Residents of the area complained about the extremely violent conduct of the Yassam and border police throughout the entire incident. At a certain point the border police began to fire tear gas grenades into a crowd of women and children, lightly injuring them. Reserve duty soldiers who arrived at the scene were horrified by the actions of the policemen and clashed with them until the latter left in the scene.
All of the detainees were taken to the Sha’ar Binyamin Police Station. Two minors were released after interrogation. The other two detainees are suspected of assaulting a policeman and will be brought to the Jerusalem Magistrate Court on the morning of Wednesday, January 2 for a deliberation. Honenu attorney David HaLevi is representing the detainees.