Settlers May Be Israel's Toughest Foe

Analysis: Resistance Against Evictions From West Bank May Lead To Failure Of Mideast Peace

(AP)  Israel's hardest battle may still lie ahead, and it's not against an Arab foe.

Warnings are growing louder that evicting tens of thousands of Jewish settlers from the West Bank's heartland - a requirement for peace with the Arabs - will be bloody, and perhaps fail.

The defense minister says extremism is spreading among ultranationalists like "a cancerous growth," the intelligence chief warns of a growing readiness to take up arms to resist evacuation, and some settler rabbis are urging religious soldiers to refuse orders.

It's a homegrown problem: For decades, Israel pampered settlers as brave pioneers, and the government continues to shy away from confronting them.

In recent years, the government has failed to dismantle dozens of unauthorized squatter camps, despite promises to the U.S. to do so. And its resolve is now being tested by a few dozen militant settlers holed up in a house in the West Bank city of Hebron, in defiance of a Supreme Court eviction order.

Yet some warn that running from that fight could condemn Israel to rule the Palestinians forever and spell the end of the dream of a state that is both Jewish and democratic. In that case, "people like me will not have a place here," said Ilan Paz, a retired brigadier general who served in the West Bank for a decade.

"If the Israeli government does not take the bull by the horns, it will get worse and worse, and in the end, people will get hurt," Paz added.

Instead of confronting the problem, however, the government continues to approve construction in settlements, even those slated for removal under a plan Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has presented to the Palestinians in the past year of peace talks.

A telling example of this seeming ambivalence is an unauthorized settlement called Migron. Palestinian landowners have asked the Israeli Supreme Court to order its removal. Last week, Defense Minister Ehud Barak responded by asking the court to let it stay for several years while houses are built for its inhabitants in a nearby state-sanctioned settlement.

The offer simultaneously violates two Israeli promises to the Bush administration - to dismantle the unauthorized settlements and stop expanding the authorized ones.

It's hard to explain why Israel would negotiate with the Palestinians while strengthening the very settlements it would one day have to evacuate. Israeli peace activist Dror Etkes believes it's a tactic - to put off the battle until a withdrawal happens, rather than wage it piecemeal.

That withdrawal may not be close, however. Elections are due on Feb. 10 and the front-runner is hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu, who opposes major territorial concessions. The Palestinians, meanwhile, are deeply split between moderates in the West Bank and Hamas militants ruling the Gaza Strip.

Some point out that dire warnings also accompanied Israel's 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, yet it was completed in a week against passive resistance and with minimal injuries.

But the West Bank is not Gaza. The settlers see it as the heart of biblical Israel, and believe giving it up would violate God's will. And the 67,000 who would be uprooted under Israel's withdrawal plan - themselves just a quarter of the total number of West Bank settlers - are nine times more numerous than those removed from Gaza.

If previous patterns repeat themselves, the majority will accept compensation and move, but even a few hundred resisters, possibly armed, could present a huge challenge to a society has always viewed fratricidal bloodshed as a threat to its existence.

The extremists are already trying to demonstrate their muscle by slashing tires of police vans, defacing Muslim cemeteries, burning Palestinian fields and threatening military officers. In the last major eviction attempt by the government, in February 2006, hundreds of protesters barricaded themselves at the Amona squatter camp, fighting off riot police with sticks, stones and bricks. Dozens were injured.

On Monday and Tuesday, settlers went on rampages in a Palestinian neighborhood in Hebron and Palestinian villages in several parts of the West Bank. They slashed car tires, smashed windows of cars and homes, defaced a Muslim cemetery and in one village sprayed "Death to Arabs" on a local mosque, the military and witnesses said.

The violence was apparently sparked by rumors that the Israeli military might remove the settlers holed up in the Hebron house. Hundreds of right-wing activists have flocked to Hebron in recent days to try to prevent an eviction.

David Wilder, a spokesman for Jewish settlers in Hebron, said the number of violence-prone extremists is small. Like many settlers, he complained that Israel's government and the courts are oppressing settlers, but said he would not raise his hand against soldiers.

However, the head of the Shin Bet security service warned of hard times ahead.

"The scope of the conflict will be much larger than it is today and than it was during the disengagement" from Gaza, Yuval Diskin was quoted as telling the Cabinet last month. "Our investigation found a very high willingness among this public to use violence - not just stones, but live weapons - in order to prevent or halt a peace process."

A few days later, Barak made his "cancerous growth" remark during a memorial for Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, assassinated in 1995 by a nationalist trying to halt a land-for-peace deal. "This evil" threatens Israeli democracy and the military, Barak warned.

Yet military analyst Yagil Levy believes that changing patterns within the Israeli military may render it incapable of taking on the settlers. Religious soldiers and settlers are already disproportionately represented in the military, including in midlevel command positions, Levy said. If an order is given to dismantle settlements, many might heed their rabbis rather than their commanders.

This fear of insubordination is one of the main reasons the army is so reluctant to dismantle even small unauthorized settlements by force, he argued.

Military men like Paz and Yaakov Amidror, a retired general and observant Jew, believe the army will obey the government's orders, provided they come through loud and clear.

Amidror noted that only a few dozen soldiers refused orders in Gaza. At the time, Amidror made the rounds among religious soldiers, urging them to obey, even though he himself vehemently opposed the pullout.

He said he would do the same now, even though he believes a West Bank pullout would expose Israel to more attacks from Arab militants.

A withdrawal would be a "huge mistake," but widespread insubordination would be even worse, he said. Without a functioning army, he said, "we will not survive."


Karin Laub has covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 1987.

[lochlan-2009]

Here come the thousands of pictures of highschool jewish girls crying, again. How soon they forget when they were the victims they ask the whole world to remember every 5 seconds.

[juwboy]

cdfoxtrot6 said:

"The UN resolution that allowed for the creation of Israel also required the simultaneous creation of a Palestinian state."

I couldn`t agree more.

However, the nascent Palestinian state was throttled at birth when Egypt invaded, occupied and annexed Gaza and Jordan did likewise to the West Bank.

If the formation of a Palestinian state is so important to the Arab world, why didn`t Egypt and Jordan create one when they had the opportunity to do so in the 19 years from 1948 to 1967?

cdfoxtrot4, why don`t you spend some time studying Middle East history instead of wasting ours with your ignorant opinions?

[truthislife1]

Without love and respect for other humans the soul is consumed. What a lousy end to a race that was given everything.

Posted by donevis

Sounds like you have spoken with love and respect.

[mrmeatspin]

this is getting funny..

Posted by seis-6-seis at 06:48 PM : Dec 02, 2008
+ report abuse

****

it would even more funny if you actually go there and tell them to leave..I wonder how long you survive

[cdfoxtrot6]

Don''''t you think that first all of the Arab countries which declared war on Israel in 1948 in violation of a UN decision to declare Israel a nation should first have to recognize Israel as a nation? You can''''t have it both ways, you want laws then everyone should have to follow them right, Israel was created lawfully.

Posted by jowand

Not true. The UN resolution that allowed for the creation of Israel also required the simultaneous creation of a Palestinian state. The absence of that state brings into question the legitimacy of Israel.

As for the point about 1948, that was six decades ago. The vast majority of Palestinians weren''t even born then, and should not be made to pay a price for the actions of Arab leaders from six decades ago.

[canadaright]

Racism in not end after seound war ll
we need to deal with this to stop the racism
www.canadaright.com
Edtorial

[donevis-2009]

Breed hatred, live with hatred, Die by hatred. These are Gods Chosen People? Welcome to the gates of he11 where dogs chew off their own limbs and injest them. Without love and respect for other humans the soul is consumed. What a lousy end to a race that was given everything.

[jowand]

It''''s about the rule of law, not religion. If Israel wants to end it''''s reputation as a rogue element, it needs to start obeying the international agreements it signed up for. That includes the UN Charter and international law. Israel cannot have it both ways: doing whatever the heck it wants and at the same time demanding it be treated as a civilized country that is a part of the international community. It''''s an easy choice.

All this problem with the settlers was all too predictable to those of us who witnessed the first of the illegal settlements back in 1980.

Posted by cdfoxtrot5 at 05:11 PM : Dec 02, 2008

Don''t you think that first all of the Arab countries which declared war on Israel in 1948 in violation of a UN decision to declare Israel a nation should first have to recognize Israel as a nation? You can''t have it both ways, you want laws then everyone should have to follow them right, Israel was created lawfully.

[cariboubarbi]

If the Israeliarmy stops protecting these extremist nut land stealing "settlers", they will be overrun and problem solved.

[clathrate]

These g*ddamn idiots are really selfish morons. They will go and steal some land, **** off the local Palestinians, provoke a terrorist response, and require 5 IDF soldiers to guard a family of 4 round the clock in their little cmap on top of some desert hill.

It''s ridiculous and Israel needs to tell these bums to leave. If they don''t, then let the Palestinians do with them as they want. These spoiled brats are risking the lives of millions for their insane little Biblical experiment.

[cdfoxtrot5]

If they convert to Islam they can stay, right ?

So they are being asked to move because they are Jewish, right ?


Posted by old300d

If the Israelis ever want peace, they need to stop practicing Apartheid against the Palestinians. They can legally do this in one of two ways:
(1) Absorb the West Bank and Gaza into a Greater Israel, and giving everyone equality and a vote. In that instance, to answer your question, they probably can stay, although compensation would likely have to be paid to the people whose lands they have stolen.
(2) Withdraw from Gaza and the West Bank, back to the 1967 borders, as called for under international law and countless UN resolutions. In that event, to answer your question, no they cannot stay.

It''s about the rule of law, not religion. If Israel wants to end it''s reputation as a rogue element, it needs to start obeying the international agreements it signed up for. That includes the UN Charter and international law. Israel cannot have it both ways: doing whatever the heck it wants and at the same time demanding it be treated as a civilized country that is a part of the international community. It''s an easy choice.

All this problem with the settlers was all too predictable to those of us who witnessed the first of the illegal settlements back in 1980.

[susanhelit]

Both sides have their extremists they''ve been coddling, and that they''ll have to rein in to get peace.

The Israelis have been coddling and encouraging Settlers to steal land from the Palestinians, set up houses (demolishing any Palestinian houses, farms, construction that was once there), and continue to force Palestinians to leave, so it''ll be hard for a peace agreement to take that land away from them. It''s not their land, and they shouldn''t be taking it from the Palestinians that have so little, and are still being squeezed even further by the Israelis.

The Palestinians have Hamas - encouraging rock throwers to start, then it became more and more extreme, and true terrorism. They''ll need to stop the rockets, and the other assaults on Israel.

But both sides kill, and a wrong committed by someone on one side doesn''t justify going and taking someone''s house who has done nothing wrong. It doesn''t justify stealling land. If they ever want peace, they need to accept that the Palestinians live there too - have lived there for a long time. Israel was created by stealling Palestinian land, with an agreement that they were SUPPOSED to take care of the Palestinians, coexist with them - not isolate them to little ghettos, lock out supplies, water, jobs, and keep building and stealling even that little land the Palestinians managed to keep.

[caligola-2009]

Avoid people that read only one book

[mitdgreenb]

Religious extremism is the enemy here. It does not matter if that''s
Ultra Jewish squatters
Hamas militants who fire randomly
Iranian (Iranians are NOT Arabs) leadership vowing to wipe Israel off the map
Christian monks battling over who "owns" the supposed site of the crucifixion.

The only cure for this is the rule of law. As MikeTotten said, the settlers are squatters. They need to obey the courts. If they don''t, they are no better than those who enforce shariah (Muslim Law) over local law.

There is justice in heaven. Here on Earth, we have only the law. (citation please)

[caligola-2009]

Do they usually write signs in English in the roads of Israel?

Or is something for us to see?

Would have cost us less to buy a house in the French riviera for every Palestinian, than facing the cost of Palestinian invasion.......

[old300d]

When has kicking people out of their homes because they are Jewish ever caused peace ?

[old300d]

If they convert to Islam they can stay, right ?

So they are being asked to move because they are Jewish, right ?

[forasongca]

Jews kill Arabs, Arabs kill Jews, all in the name of God. I used to have more sympathy for Israel than for her neighbors; now I don''t have much for either side.

Why can''t God choose someone *else* once in a while?

[old300d]

They moved out of Gaza and look what happened.

Hamastan.