Jewish shepherd detained after Bedouins attempt to steal his sheep

Friday, January 30, 2015, 14:28 A Jewish shepherd from Givat HaBaladim, a hilltop community near Kochav HaShahar in the Binyamin region, was detained in the early afternoon hours of Friday, January 30, by policemen and police detectives from the Yehuda and Shomron District Police while he grazed his sheep within the area of his community.
According to residents of Givat HaBaladim several hours before the shepherd was detained Bedouins arrived at the hilltop and attempted to steal several sheep. The shepherd called Kochav HaShachar’s head of security who called IDF soldiers to the scene. Simultaneously additional Givat HaBaladim residents arrived and the Bedouins left the scene. The Bedouins returned accompanied by photographers and the IDF soldiers removed them from the area.
Several hours later policemen and police detectives arrived and detained the shepherd, a Jewish youth approximately 18 years old, who was grazing his sheep within the area of Givat HaBaladim, but far from the pasture in which the clash occurred. A Honenu attorney is attempting to verify the reason for his detention.
In a separate incident, a Jewish woman approximately 25 years old from K’far Eldad was detained during clashes which broke out in Gush Etzion between residents from Nokdim and K’far Eldad and Arabs and left-wing activists who arrived with the intent of planting olive trees in areas adjacent to the Jewish communities. The woman was taken to the Etzion Police Station for interrogation.
Planting olive trees near Jewish communities is a tactic used by Arabs and left-wing activists to both attempt to claim land and to provide terrorists with a means to conceal their presence.