Israeli security forces arrested two Arab high school students here today after Jewish settlers allegedly entered the school at gunpoint in pursuit of youths they claimed had stoned one of their vehicles on the road outside.
The incident, involving Jewish settlers from Carmel, near Hebron, was the second this week in which settlers entered the school to confront alleged attackers and warn the student body against future rock throwing. Ron Schechner, chairman of the Hebron Jewish Mountain Regional Council, said the settlers had no choice but to act as they did.
He said a vehicle carrying Carmel settlers to their farmland south of the village was hit by a barrage of rocks shortly before school opened at 8 a.m. local time. A car window was broken but no one was hurt. According to Schechner the only way to deal with the stone-throwers was to confront them in their own school yard.
“In principle, of course, we would prefer that the security forces deal with the problem but if they don’t we may have no choice but to act on our own,” Schechner said. He said that security forces were summoned after today’s incident but arrived only an hour later when they arrested the two youths in their classroom.
According to Mohammad Rumi, principal of the school, the settlers entered the class rooms at gunpoint and ordered all students to assemble in the yard where they searched for the alleged attackers. Rumi said he had no control over what happened outside the school but could not tolerate settlers breaking into the classes. He demanded that the security forces act to prevent a repetition.
Similar rock-throwing incidents occurred today in Nablus and Ramallah where students attacked security forces with stones. According to Israeli sources, the attacks are the work of extremist agitators who want to create disorder on the West Bank for political reasons. But other Israeli observers say the recent harassment of Arabs by Jewish settlers in the Hebron region was a contributing factor.
Last week shots were fired at Arab houses near Kiryat Arba, the Jewish religious township adjacent to Hebron. A booby-trap bomb was planted outside a mosque in the center of Hebron. The police are holding several Jewish suspects but have not pressed charges.
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