Police in field warn of lost control in Negev

Senior echelon denies officers are told to avoid confrontation in Bedouin areas.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Police officers operating in Israel’s Negev region have privately acknowledged a loss of control in parts of the south, while senior police leadership categorically denies the claims, Channel 12 reported Sunday.

The latest flashpoint is the Bedouin town of Tarabin, where violent riots broke out Friday after large police forces entered the area to locate criminal suspects.

Dozens of residents hurled stones at officers and police vehicles, causing damage.

After trying to use tear gas on the rioters, the authorities “simply fled the area,” said the report, instead of confronting the lawbreakers and arresting them.

The report also cited an undated internal police memo announcing the official policy: “Entry into Tarabin is prohibited. From this moment on, travel on [Route] 310 only in pairs or more. Pairs are two teams. Six to eight fighters.”

The restrictions were not limited to operational units. Even administrative personnel were instructed to travel the route only in coordinated teams.

One officer stationed in the region expressed disbelief at the order.

“It doesn’t make sense that there is a village a 15-minute drive from the police station which we are instructed not to enter, as if it were Jenin,” he said, referring to one of the largest Palestinian terrorist hotbeds in Samaria.

While riot-control equipment and armored vehicles are used during raids, the officer said, police are repeatedly prevented from responding decisively.

“Every time we enter, they don’t allow us to use the means. They prefer to flee rather than confront and make arrests,” he said. “It’s a disgrace.”

Route 310 runs through nearby Givot Bar and the Bedouin city of Rahat, linking the Jewish villages of Eshel HaNasi and Lehavim.

Despite the police restrictions, residents who rely on the road daily have not received official safety instructions.

In response to what they called the “security situation” on Route 310, Lehavim residents decided independently that their children would travel to school in Eshel HaNasi via Beersheba, turning a 20-minute commute into a 90-minute drive to avoid the risk of stone-throwing.

“If the police aren’t driving on it, if law enforcement isn’t driving on it, would I drive on this road? Would I let my son drive on this road?” asked Givot Bar resident Billy Cohen. “We might have to evacuate this community. It’s very disturbing.”

Another resident said he now walks outside only when armed, fearing potential incursions.

Those fears were reinforced Friday night, when residents from Tarabin allegedly breached security in Givot Bar and set vehicles on fire in what authorities described as a “revenge attack” following the earlier police raid.

Police returned to Tarabin on Saturday and arrested three suspects in connection with the vandalism.

The Israel Police rejected the report’s claims outright, calling it “a biased publication” that unfairly blames officers “who carry out unprecedented and powerful activity, day and night, for the security of the normative residents of the Negev.”

No one “fled” the stone-throwers, the statement continued. “The forces completed operational activity in accordance with its objectives and, after achieving the goals, left the scene in a controlled manner and according to procedures.”

The safety restrictions and reinforced deployment on regional roads, police added, reflect “professional and responsible police work.”

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