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| Israel-Palestine |
| Extremist settlers threaten Sharon over plans for Gaza withdrawal |
| 2005-02-20 |
| An extremist group of female Israeli settlers, some still teenagers, have vowed to unleash anarchy across the country in protest over disengagement plans drawn up by Ariel Sharon, the Israeli premier. The women, from settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, have already taken part in violent demonstrations, and support a campaign of threats and intimidation. Several teenage girls were among those arrested last week after rush-hour protests at busy road junctions brought much of Israel to a halt. Demonstrators burnt tyres, attacked police officers, smashed police cars and vandalised cells where they were being detained. Graffiti scrawled on the walls referred to Yitzhak Rabin, Israel's former prime minister, who was shot dead in Tel Aviv in 1995 by an ultranationalist Jew who wanted to derail a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. "Rabin is waiting for Sharon," the protesters wrote. "Death to Arabs." A policewoman who required hospital treatment after the scuffles was shocked when one woman called her a "Nazi". Three protesters were later interviewed on Israeli television. "I would be happy if Sharon was dead," one 17-year-old said. Her 16-year-old companion smiled as she said: "But I would not waste my bullet on him." The protests broke out after Mr Sharon's disengagement plan cleared one of its final hurdles last week. The Israeli parliament approved a compensation package for settlers who will be evacuated from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank in the coming months. The cabinet is expected to give its seal of approval to the package at its weekly meeting today. In the atmosphere of growing intolerance, threats have been made to the lives of several cabinet ministers, and Mr Sharon has hired a security company to protect the grave of his late wife, Lily, after receiving threats that Right-wing vandals would dig up her body at his ranch in the Negev. Mrs Sharon died of lung cancer in March 2000. Brig Gen Ilan Paz, the head of the civil administration in the West Bank, also received a death threat from a far-Right activist. Many mainstream settlers have been angered by the protesters, claiming that their actions are undermining their cause. The protesters, however, come from hard-core settler communities in towns such as Hebron, on the West Bank. Several have begun moving down to the Gaza settlements earmarked for evacuation, to prepare for an anticipated fight with the security forces. Meir Rotenstein, a resident of Neve Deqalim settlement, received threats after he agreed to take the compensation money and leave. He has seen many young settlers arrive in the area. "I have met some of these young men and women and they said they want to attack the security forces," he said. "They are real crazies. I hope they will not try to kill anyone, but it is possible." They are considered even by other settlers to be dangerously fanatical, and among the so called "hilltop youth" are American Jews who build outposts not approved by the Israeli Cabinet. While the majority of those involved are Israeli-born there is a sizeable minority from American Jewish families, who are often among the most uncompromising settlers. Many have moved within the past 20 years from large communities in the United States, such as one in Brooklyn. They live in areas with a reputation for zealotry, such as Kiryat Arba, in Hebron, and a chain of settlements near Nablus, the main Arab city in the northern West Bank. Religious settlers say that the Bible defines the south-western boundary of the land of Israel as the "river of Egypt" and therefore insist that the Gaza Strip is an integral part of Greater Israel and was included in God's divine promise to the Jewish People. Some also claim it has military signifiacnce as a buffer to Egypt. Israel's Shin Bet intelligence service and the police were caught off guard by last week's demonstrations. The organisers managed to keep details of the protests secret by spreading word via mobile telephone text messages. While information about the organisation is sketchy, one of its driving forces is believed to be Itamar Ben-Gvir, a Right-winger linked to the outlawed, militantly anti-Arab Kach party. His 17-year-old wife, Ayala, was among those arrested. Last night Mr Ben-Gvir revealed that the protest group is several thousand strong and warned that there would be extreme violence if the Israeli settlements were evacuated. "It would be better if these women were doing something else but Sharon has left us with no choice but to fight back," he told The Sunday Telegraph. "Sharon has crossed a red line. We have to protest as this is the only language Sharon understands." |
| Posted by:Bulldog |
| #5 Wack-job religous nuts need to be shut down if they have violent tendencies. The specific nature of their religion is immaterial. If civilized governments don't do this then they have no right to condemn other govt's who are slow to clean up messes in their tent. |
| Posted by: Remoteman 2005-02-20 10:57:17 AM |
| #4 My daughter who lives in Israel has met some of these hilltop settlers. A few of them are just naive, a few are groupies of charismatic leaders, a few are just mentally ill but some are basically sadistic thugs. Israel would have arrested the thugs long ago but their civil rights laws are as difficult to navigate as ours, maybe more so since the groups, naivites, etc. don't testify against the thugs. |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-02-20 9:57:30 AM |
| #3 Bulldog the article blends reportage with agenda peddling. There is no advocacy of murder. To say you wish someone were dead is not the same as advocacy. I have have recently said I wish Castro would hurry up and die. I was certainly not advocating murder. Otherwise this is people being driven out of their homes to satisfy geopolitics. At best it leaves a bad taste. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-02-20 5:25:49 AM |
| #2 Are you disputing the facts in this article, phil_b, or do you just not like them? For most of us, thankfully, people who advocate murder for political or religious reasons are safely considered 'extreme'. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2005-02-20 4:51:40 AM |
| #1 Right wing - extreme - American. No agenda here obviously. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-02-20 4:35:14 AM |