The residents of Modiin Illit, situated near Palestinian villages, have been suffering from break-ins and other issues for years, and that’s during the peaceful times. But now that times are far from peaceful, the security issues have reached new heights.

Members of the local patrol group HaShomrim erected a guardpost last week overlooking the security fence and the nearby wadi, Kikar H’Shabbat reported.

While the HaShomrim volunteers were still erecting the guardpost, dozens of Arabs began throwing stones from the other side of the fence toward the city. IDF soldiers patrolling nearby used stun grenades and tear gas to disperse the mob.

Yaakov, one of the HaShomrin volunteers, told Kikar: “We arranged this as an independent initiative of the residents and we’re very thankful to the municipality for its investment in our security and its encouragement of our activities. We see what’s happening throughout Israel and we don’t want to wait until there’s a crisis, chas v’chalilah, to wake up.”

“The organization is well-established. We have night-vision equipment, security cameras, tear gas, and weapons. We also have armed members. If chas v’chalilah we would identify an infiltration, we would call security forces who cooperate with us.”

Last week, the residents of Modiin Illit heard announcements from the nearby Arab village over the loudspeaker inciting residents to “murder the Jews.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)