On Friday, a small outpost of four buildings called Havat Yair was attacked by 70 Arabs.

The outpost, established in 1999 near the entrance to Yakir, a community about 20 miles east of Tel Aviv with over 2,000 residents, was burned down and a group of Jews was attacked by the Arabs who pelted them with rocks and Molotov cocktails. 

Chana Sidman, a young woman, was visiting friends who lived at the outpost, when she found herself in the middle of what she described as a “pogrom.”

“My friends built small wooden houses,” Sidman told Israel365 News. “We went down to visit them. We saw some Arab shepherds in the fields but we didn’t pay them any attention and they seemed to ignore us. We were hanging out and everything seemed fine. Suddenly, we realized we were surrounded by Arabs. They had Palestinian flags and started screaming at us. We saw that they had several cameras and were filming everything.”

“We started to run away and the Arabs went into the houses and began to steal things. One young man who was with us called for help and the security team from Yakir and at that point, the Arabs started throwing Molotov cocktails at us and at the houses. At that point, one young man from our group fired warning shots in the air. Fortunately, at that point, the security team showed up and the Arabs ran away. The firetruck arrived and put out the fires.”

“I had to run for my life so they stole my purse and passport,” Chana said. “In short an attempted lynch and a small pogrom, just like in Europe before the Holocaust; burning down a Jewish town.”

The residents returned to the site for Shabbat and though the living conditions were far less than ideal, they vowed to rebuild.

In January, as part of a plan to expand several communities in Samaria, the government approved 96 homes for Havat Yair. The community was named for the Biblical character, Yair ben Menashe.