TEL AVIV - Israeli police condemned on Sunday an attack by right-wing settlers on several Palestinians in Gaza last week, calling them to turn themselves in.
Following Saturday’s violent incident, Shimshon District Police Chief Shimon Ben-Harush said forces will "not let outlaws do as they please."
"We will go to whoever doesn't come (themselves) to be investigated," he said.
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The right-wingers were part of a group of protesters of Israel's Gaza pullout plan who have in recent weeks taken refuge in a hotel in the Gush Katif
settlement bloc, where Israeli security forces suspect activists are discussing their plans to resist and stymie the withdrawal.
Residents of the settlements around the building have said the group are not settlers from the area.
Datya Yitzhaki, a settler leader who heads the anti-disengagement Gaza Absorption Authority, said the authority is considering filing a lawsuit against Ben-Harush in light of his comments.
“It is inconceivable that he would call all the hotel guests outlaws,” she said. “Many of them are honest citizens.”
Rightists attack Palestinians
The right-wingers encountered a group of Palestinians near the village of al-Mawassi on Saturday and started to beat them and even fired a shot. Stones were thrown at the village, and four Palestinians who had come to bathe in the sea were injured, the fourth shot in his leg.
However, right-wingers at the hotel told Ynet that the Palestinian group, armed with stones and clubs, initiated the violence by attacked people strolling on the beach.
"We were shocked to see what had happened and how it was turned against us," one of the activists said, adding that "the police, the media, Hamas and the PLO do not want us here, so they are trying to make up different excuses."
Yitzhaki said the youths were unarmed and did not engage in any provocations.
However, police are convinced that one of the hotel guests fired at the Palestinians and are investigating the incident and speaking with witnesses.
'Different mindset'
Staunch right-wingers have said they will act to stop a planned Israeli withdrawal from all 21 settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank in August.
Although Gush Katif settlers are refraining from publicly criticizing the West Bank right-wing activists who have flocked to Gaza, some feel hardliners may obstruct their resistance campaign, which they maintain to be nonviolent.
“We respect them, but it is clear they have a different mindset than ours; we view the struggle in an entirely different manner,” Gush Katif Residents’ Committee Head Raffi Seri said. “We are continually following their actions for fear they would do damage.”
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