Yeshua Briener
Walla News
7 October 2012
In a special interview, Major General Amos Yaakov, commander of the Samaria and Judea district, tells of the effort invested in the fight against “price tag” actions, and exposes that in at least four cases, the identity of the mosque arsonists is known – but they are free.
“We know, in at least four cases of mosque arson, who are the perpetrators. We even got a DNA match from a matchbox near one of the mosques set on fire – but it appears this is insufficient for charges.” These sensational details of the investigation are exposed by Commander of the Samaria and Judea district of the police, Major General Amos Yaakov, in a special interview with Walla! News for the Sukkot holiday. In an exceptional move, Major General Yaakov, who stands on the front line of the fight against actions dubbed “price tag”, details the behind the scenes police efforts to prevent these actions and to attempt and apprehend the perpetrators.
In the struggle against Jewish ideological crime in the territories, which runs the gamut from acts of vandalism and hooliganism to actual acts of terror, such as arson of mosques or throwing fire-boms – stand not only Yaakov and his officers, but also the Jewish Department of the General Security Services (GSS). Both of them unsuccessfully attempt to reach indictments against the criminals. The success is partial: granted, in the past year there has been a sharp decline in the number of cases of damage to Palestinian property, but on the other hand the police and GSS still haven’t succeeded in locating the smoking match which will bring the perpetrators to imprisonment.
“Here there are no apologies or excuses,” clarifies Yaakov, and explains: “the difficultly and our inaccessibility to the scene at which a serious event such as the torching of a mosque must be understood. In all other districts in the country, when there is a murder or criminal event, the police immediately arrive at the scene even if it is one defined as difficult. Here, in Judea and Samaria, I can’t freely reach the crime scene located in areas A or B.. Sometimes there is a need to wait for a military escort, and generally the Palestinians create disorder at the entrance, and until you reach the scene and the evidence there, they have already cleaned the area, Palestinian fire fighters have cleaned everything and there is no evidence to gather.”
So the Palestinians are guilty that you don’t manage to reach the arsonists?
“I don’t blame them. Our job as the police is to reach the criminals, but so the district attorney can submit an indictment and the court can give a sentence, I need evidence – and in order to reach it, the scene must be reached.” Yaakov relates that in the case of the mosque torched in the village of Jaba near Ramallah last June, an act conducted in response to the evacuation of the Ulpana neighbourhood in the Beit El settlement, his investigators succeeded in finding a matchbox with a DNA sample of an Israeli suspect, a 15 year old boy from Netanya who was detained – but after several days freed just like other suspects in this same incident. “It is not enough,” says Yaakov, “we didn’t have additional supporting evidence, and apparently that isn’t enough to submit an indictment.”
You have the DNA of a suspect that you found on a matchbox near the mosque that was set on fire, and that isn’t enough? How can this be?
“We have fairly solid evidence of one that was caught, detained and interrogated – but it wasn’t enough. In the matter of interrogations, you need to see how they behave. It is insane. These are guys who come as prepared as possible, with explanations and directives how not to talk in the interrogation. Children 14, 15 and even 12 years old sit in nine months of interrogation, through interrogation tactics and for entire days they don’t say a word and don’t talk. In such a case, there is nothing to do against the right to silence.”
Of all the arson attacks on mosques, in how many of the incidents do you know the identity of the perpetrators?
“I guess that in at least four cases we know intelligence-wise who the perpetrators are, but that isn’t enough for the courts. We have our information, and information we receive from the GSS against certain people, against whom we conduct surveillance or attempt to catch them “in the act.” In practice, in the past year only one mosque has been set on fire and this represents a drastic drop in events. The pressure placed on them gives results, otherwise they would continue to go wild as in previous years. And still, we haven’t caught the group that conducted one of the most serious incidents, such as the fire-bombing of the Palestinian taxi in Bat Ayin, or which burned down a mosque.”
With all due respect, after so many events, how is it that you still don’t manage to stop these people? The military commander and yourself dubbed these acts as acts of terror.
“In the end the court wants to see evidence, even if I know with certainty that X committed the crime. We have numerous aspects concerning evidence or means that we cannot expose, even at the cost of apprehension. In the case of the fire-bombing in Bat Ayin, which was a terror incident in all respects, I assume that here there will be at least one indictment, even if this involves 12 and 13 year olds. However, order must be made. The police gather evidence and present the file to the district attorney, who examines what was gathered and submits an indictment. And even then, it could be that despite everything, the court will release the suspects.”
“Net criminality”
Despite this, Major General Yaakov is most pleased with the functioning of the Samaria and Judea police in the past year in taking care of the phenomenon of ideological criminality. The concepts of “price tag” or “hilltop youths” he doesn’t like, and insists on prefixing them with the words “as you like to dub them.” For him, in a large number of cases, this is criminality period.
Yaakov is a police officer of the polite and intelligent kind, and it’s difficult to disturb his serenity. He does not speak harshly, does not get angry and most of all does not gossip. Under the usual photos of state president in his office he framed a flyer with the words “Slander – doesn’t speak to me,” which is appropriate for a synagogue in one of the settlements in the area – but Yaakov took care to hang it in a central place in his office.
He is 50 years old, married with three children and lives far from the police gang, in the Sadeh Trumot in the Emek Hamayanot area. He grew up in Jerusalem and following military service as an officer in Golani and Givati,he enlisted in the border police in 1988 and grew in command. On the way he managed to be the Border Police commander in Jerusalem and the North, and commander of the instructional base in Beit Horon.
“Dealing with ideological criminality represents only 10% of our files,” he clarifies. “Like everywhere in the country, we also have cases of violence, drunkenness, drugs, theft, sex, everything. What is in Netanya is also in Elon Moreh or Itamar, but the press is interested only in certain files.”
He is considered a promising officer in the police command and his name comes up as a candidate to receive command over one of the districts considered most attractive, such as the northern or Tel Aviv district. Since he was appointed to his current position and stationed in the Samaria and Judea station close to Maale Adumim in May 2011, he has found himself in a struggle that his colleagues in the senior command do not know – the struggle against ideological criminality in the heart of one of the most charged areas in the Middle East.
This past year’s decline in the extent of “price tag” crimes he attributes to, amongst other things, his decision to substantially increase – to an unprecedented extent - the forces devoted to tackling this matter. Not only the central unit of the district deals with these files. Intelligence coordinators devote substantial efforts to the subject and a special task force was established to deal with the phenomenon, comprised of special patrol forces and a designated border police company which was stationed by the Central Command’s Major General,Nitzan Alon, and acts under the police. Observations of the police’s Intelligence Unit also act on the basis of different estimates, and of course the Jewish Department of the GSS – all in order to decrease the number of events and primarily to attempt and catch one of the groups.
“Most of the perpetrators come from outside Judea and Samaria”
The police quantify the achievements in numbers: the number of olive trees vandalized dropped from some 900 trees in 2011 to only 250 trees in the first nine months of the year (although the olive harvest season, known for its sensitivity, is set to begin); and in the past year in the West Bank one mosque was set on fire, compared to six last year. “There is substantial open and undercover action of ours which brings results,” he details, “an ambush near a mosque; ambushes within orchards and olive tree groves; actions on the routes and in the communities from where we know the perpetrators come out. We conduct activities to decrease the field of action of those we know to be “busy at the job.”
The decline in violent events is attributed not only to police actions, but also to the issuance of tens of administrative restraining orders for right-wing activists – a legally problematic action, but the GSS and police see that it brings results on the ground, and promise that the issuance of these orders is done only after solid intelligence information is gathered. “Administrative orders are not a given,” says Yaakov, “41 people were kept away from the area, and this dealt them a fatal blow. Last year we submitted 70 indictments for ideological criminality, some of them against those with restraining orders, and those who violate the orders are immediately detained. Beyond this, those who return when the order expires know that we are watching them. Today they don’t have an open field of action.
“Despite this,” he surprises, “most people who perpetrate these crimes are from outside Judea and Samaria,” he surprises, “this must be emphasized. Most of them come from the central region, from Beit Shemesh or Safed. In one of the mosques at least, as I mentioned, the primary suspect comes from Netanya.”
Throughout the conversation, Yaakov takes care to separate between violations defined as criminal and the more difficult cases which he defines as “terror incidents in every respect.”
What is the profile of the perpetrators of these actions?
“Like in every religion, there are people who are grounded in a certain ideological fanaticism, who believe that only if they do something which will ignite and inflame the territory, they will attain their wishes. It is generally young people whose ages range from 12 years and nine months, as we caught in Bat Ayn, to age 23. We also detained children aged eight and ten in the Ramat Migron outpost, who thought they were in some kind of summer camp.”
Do you feel the suspects are more sophisticated or smarter than you?
“No. It must be remembered that these are people who know the area extremely well. Some of them are former soldiers and combat soldiers and they know very well what is (evidence) gathering, how to conduct observations and how to go into the territory. When they go out to commit their acts they arrive to the arena without mobile phones and when they are detained they are quiet, even after two weeks of detention. These are very experienced people who know what they want, are well instructed and are simply not afraid.”
Do you identify a guiding hand in all of the difficult events?
“Concerning behaviour in interrogations, there is a guiding hand. There is a booklet (that was edited by the right-wing activist Noam Federman, which instructs on how to avoid interrogation tricks – YB). Concerning the acts, I don’t think there is someone instructing them, and precisely because of this it is difficult to catch them. I think that here we have sporadic organizations of several groups that decide at a given moment to get up at night and to take action. Even within themselves they compartmentalise each other. We don’t see a type of ‘pyramid.’ These are different local groups that act in accordance with the conflict existing in each area.”
Was there a “price tag” event that you succeeded in preventing due to these actions at the very last minute?
“In retrospect we know that we prevented some of the incidents, such as damaging Palestinian property or vehicles. We also know to say that we prevented in the past year damage to one mosque due to the spreading of a task force in the area.”
And still, until today, you didn’t succeed in submitting one indictment. To what extent does this frustrate you?
“I don’t think we are frustrated. In police work there are successes and failures. Occasionally there is disappointment in that you know intelligence-wise who is the perpetrator, but until you reach the arena you have no option to of taking out any evidence, and even when there is evidence – it is not enough for the state attorney to move it forward. Our role as police is to demand from ourselves that we bring sufficiently solid evidence. I don’t wish to criticize anyone but ourselves.”
“A fast procedure is required, like in traffic violations”
One of the prominent achievements of the Samaria and Judea region in the past year is the detention of the “Outpost War Room” people, five right-wing activists, primarily from the settlement of Yitzhar near Nablus, who according to the police conducted a war room from a flat in Jerusalem where they collected information about IDF movements, held classified maps. The police also attribute to them responsibility for the breaking in of activists to the Efraim Brigade one year ago – and all with the goal of disrupting outpost evacuations.
However, since the filing of indictments last February, the trial of the five has not advanced and Yaakov raises the suggestion of conducting in serious cases of “price tag” a rapid legal proceeding, similar to what exists for traffic violations. “As is done in serious traffic violations, I expect that also in the difficult violations conducted for ideological reasons there will be a rapid legal proceeding and that it will not be delayed.”
However, at the end of the day, an indictment was filed against the five for violation of defence regulations for times of emergency from the time of the British mandate, when previously they were suspected of spying. Even Knesset members gave them information. You didn’t go overboard?
“If people collect information about military movements, conduct observations, have maps and lists with the names of all senior officers in the region and where they reside – for what is this intended, to build some kind of game? I view this event with the utmost severity. Disrupting IDF actions isn’t terror itself? It is most serious. At the time we attempted to go for the most serious violation, but…there was a reticence. I remind you that then, all of the world came out with harsh condemnations. Everyone shouted that this couldn’t be, that they crossed all possible red lines, but eventually when it came time for action – people were reticent.”
Why don’t you say the phrase “state attorney” explicitly?
“Because I judge only myself.”
“A foreign anarchist caught does not return here”
Yaakov mentions that in such a controversial region the police are forced to deal not only with radical right-wing activists, but also with the radical left. “Some of the conflagrations and conflicts are caused only because of the left and the anarchists, without whom the Palestinians wouldn’t even leave their homes. They force them to leave. There are known provocateurs, but it’s difficult to put our hands on them as they always walk the fine line between criminal offense and what is legal.”
Yaakov exposes that in recent months the surveillance of the activities of left-wing organisations in the area has been substantially augmented. A designated desk synchronises amongst the various bodies, including the IDF, Civil Administration, the Ministry of Interior and other bodies. Very often the targets of surveillance are foreign citizens, who in some cases are caught and deported. “We act vis-a-vis the concentrations which come to the demonstrations in Nabi Saleh, the South Hebron Hills and in Qadumim, as we identified left-wing activists and anarchists as those who stoke the fire. Today, a foreign anarchist who is caught does not return and in the past two months we caught tens of anarchists. These things deter. The public and media are stuck only on criminality from the right side of the map, but there is also activity from the left that incites. Sometimes one is a function of the other. Just two weeks ago left-wing activists and Palestinians arrived near the Havat Maon outpost, south of Hebron, and antagonised the residents. Masked persons came from Havat Maon and threw rocks at them, we detained them and charges were pressed.”
Yaakov is pleased with the manner in which the Ulpana neighbourhood was evacuated and primarily with the evacuation of Migron. “Big credit must be given to the heads of the settlements,” he notes. “Without them it’s impossible to do things. My commanders and I have a correct relationship with them, and it’s possible to also speak with them about the most difficult subjects for them. The sole question is how we do the things with minimum damage to both sides.”
You were one of the commanders of the evacuation of Amona in 2006. The difficult images that we saw then can repeat themselves?
“No chance. As long as I command the evacuation, there will be no violent evacuation or difficult images. I didn’t plan the evacuation in Amona back then but as someone who was there, I can promise this won’t repeat itself as I know how to do it correctly. Today, there exists no option that I arrive to an evacuation event with police on horses or water canons. To the last evacuations we also didn’t go with batons or other equipment. I also took care that the force didn’t come with black overalls in order to broadcast from the beginning a certain message. At the moment we have no preparations for additional evacuations but from the moment an order is given, the forces are trained and know what to do. Despite this, with me there will always be dialogue with the residents and there is no chance in the world there will be harsh violence, at least in my period.”
“Excellent relations with the Palestinian police”
An additional level in the half full glass of Yaakov is the positive image of the police in the public eye, and his success in the measurement of “chances of a criminal to be caught” in his district stands, according to him, higher than other districts in the country: some 35% compared to 20% in the rest of the country. “I know it is said that in Judea and Samaria there is not really a police force, that we are the backyard, etc. I discovered here other qualities and quality work. It must be understood that managing a file here is more complex than anywhere else but beyond that, this is a normal area, and crime exists here like anywhere else. We caught here the biggest drug dealer of the Jerusalem region, and three large drug laboratories. Due to the excellent relations with the Palestinian police, we also succeed in solving complex files. There is no possibility to succeed here without common work with the army, the GSS, the Civil Administration and community heads. The territory here is the largest after the southern district, and I can say that we all work in a synchronised and outstanding manner. We prevented numerous harsh crimes and changed the concept. It is true that we still have much to do, but there is already a change on the ground and I assume we will also reach the perpetrators of the most serious acts.”
Where does the investigation file stand in the murder of the two police officers on the Jordan Valley road in 2009? It is an attack? A criminal act?
Yaakov sighs. “Just this morning I conducted a status meeting on the file, and to my sorrow I have no news. There is no direction that we didn’t examine: Jewish terror, Arab terror, stumbling onto a criminal event, a hate attack against the police officers as they distributed tickets. We are searching everything. I cannot say we will get out of this dead end, but I can promise that this file was not abandoned for a moment.”
Reactions
In response to the statements of Yaakov concerning suspects in the arson of mosques, Attorney Adi Keidar, the legal representative of the Hananu association which represented most of the suspects in “price tag” files, responded that “police announcements that they know who the perpetrators are although no indictments were filed is an irresponsible statement. Concerning the police contentions of the behaviour of those being interrogated, the police have no one to complain about apart from itself. The public has no faith in the Israeli police and rightfully so. Concerning the “war room” affair, for years this activity was done openly, and public figures and organisations participated in it without the police and GSS halting it. This is an open file, and providing details to the press is inappropriate and teaches about the irresponsibility of the police. The Samaria and Judea district has always allowed itself to function independently – and it appears there is no oversight of its actions.”
Translated from Hebrew by Connie Hackbarth, Alternative Information Center (AIC)
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