Unknown individuals released the wheels of the car of activist Rabbi Arik Asherman, who came to help Palestinian farmers, yesterday (Tuesday) and caused an accident.
Asherman arrived yesterday afternoon, with another Israeli activist, on agricultural land near the village of Taibeh in the West Bank, which is located between the Rimonim settlement and Kochav Hashahar, after Palestinian farmers reported to him that settlers had come to the fields with cows. When Asherman left the scene and began driving on the main road, two of the wheels of his car came loose.
Arik Asherman’s vehicle, after unknown individuals sabotaged it (Photo: Arik Asherman)
“Miraculously it did not end in a more serious accident. Imagine what would have happened if the tires had been completely released if I had driven at a faster speed. It would have ended in disaster,” said Asherman, who comes to the area every week to accompany Palestinian farmers.
In the telegram group “The Struggle”, where updates are sent on demonstrations in protest of Godfather’s death, the group’s operatives wrote yesterday: “The traitor Eric Asherman tried to create a provocation, and found out that someone was playing with the wheels of the vehicle”.
With the exception of Channel 7, which described the case as an “attempted murder”, no media outlet reported the incident. It is likely that if such a thing had been done to a Jew who was not active on the left, the incident would have been defined as an “attempted murder.”
The chairman of the joint list, MK Ayman Odeh, and anti-occupation activists called the sabotage an “attempted murder.” Ode Tweet: “I talked to Rabbi Arik Asherman after the hill boys loosened the screws from two of the wheels of his car, and only luckily did not bring him to his death. The horrific attempt at murder did not weaken his confidence and faith in his brave way.”
In recent years, residents of an unauthorized outpost near the village have been releasing cows and sheep, which are eating the crop grown by the Bedouin farming communities in the area. Israeli activists are coming to try to help the residents deal with the harassment of the settlers. According to Asherman, “This is a long struggle. These are lands that the state recognizes as private Palestinian lands. The farmers rent the lands from Taibeh residents, but the settlers are trying in every way to take over these lands.”
“Yesterday the army and police arrived, and one of the settlers kept the cows away, but the policeman refused to take his details as we requested. After the policeman left, the cows returned,” Asherman recounted last night’s events. “Then we made the mistake and got too far away from the vehicle to deal with the violations. We got around one and a half, and got back in the car at three and a half. When we started driving I heard noises, I thought I was up to something. I stopped several times to see what was happening and found nothing, so I continued.”
Later, as they turned from Oak Road to a side road to turn around, two of the vehicle’s wheels disintegrated, after the brackets on which the wheels sat broke and the nuts fell. “Luckily it happened when I made a horseshoe. Two tires just fell out of the car with all the nuts, I realized someone had released the nuts,” Asherman said.
He said he did not see who released the wheels, but it is clear to him who caused it. “I have no doubt it was settlers. It was just me, another activist and the settlers. Even the Palestinians were not in the area because they were afraid to come. We were far away, they released the wheels on the driver’s side, probably so we would not be seen.” During the incident a young settler accompanied the cows and another settler walked around the area on horseback.
The outpost closest to the agricultural area is Neria Farm, located south of the Rimonim settlement, not far from the new outpost that was advanced near the accident site where her beloved godfather was killed during a police chase.
Since Godfather’s death, Yesh Din investigators have received verified reports of 37 different cases of Israeli settlers attacking Palestinians, including roadblocks and stone-throwing at vehicles and invasions of Palestinian settlements. In some cases, soldiers stood by and did not prevent the violence. In at least eight cases, settlers caused physical damage to Palestinians by throwing stones.
Yesh Din researcher reported that this morning a group of settlers attacked Palestinian farmers from the localities of Aqraba and Majdal Bnei Pedal, while they were working on their land. A 75-year-old father and son were injured and evacuated with head injuries. Other farmers who were in the area are suffering from minor injuries from stones thrown at them.
Last month, not far from the area where Asherman arrived, a settler opened fire live at Palestinian and Israeli protesters rejoicing against the outpost.
This is an increase in the number of incidents, while the defense establishment is also concerned about the violence, which is also directed against soldiers and police.
Asherman got stuck with his car near the Rimonim settlement. Many of the settlers stopped to offer him help, and only a few of them stopped to curse him. “One boy shouted and spat at me,” Asherman said. Later, while Asherman and the activist who was with him waited for hours to repair the vehicle, two settlers on horseback, one of them earlier on the farmland, began to walk around the vehicle and the activists, promising to return to the area today.
“I will file a complaint. It will not be done,” Asherman said. “They went with the horses to the area and came back several times, and walked around the car with a smile on their faces. They seem to have come to assess the damage,” said the activist who was with Asherman in the car.
Asherman said of the tactics of using animals to expel Palestinians from the land: “The settlers bring in the cows and goats and sheep, and eat what the Bedouin raise there. It is tens of thousands of shekels worth of damage. “This is one of the highlights of the cooperation between the settlers and the authorities, who refuse to take care of families who have lost all their crops.”
Settlers who came to watch Arik Asherman’s vehicle, after unknown individuals sabotaged it (Photo: Arik Asherman)
According to him, this year the settlers were grazing in the fields early, so most of the crop was destroyed. “A few weeks ago we helped families sow and plow, we hoped there would be a few months of grace, but already on one of the days of plowing and sowing they released the cows, ate the seeds and then what began to grow. At best the army comes, but does not do much.”
This afternoon, horseback settlers returned to the area with cows and grazed in Palestinian territory. Later, police officers who arrived at the scene actually arrested Asherman and other activists. Another active Wounded in the headAnd after a settler attacked him with a stick.
This is not the first time Asherman has been attacked by settlers. In 2015, a masked settler attacked him during a harvest near Itamar. He later received a stick sentence. In 2018, a vehicle damaged by the Ta’ayush factories in the West Bank was returned when the screws connecting the vehicle’s suspension were released. As Amira Hess then published in Haaretz, the mechanic who inspected the vehicle determined that it was a sabotage and that they “tried to kill” the activists.