Radical Settlers Take On Israel

[Violet_Crumble]

YITZHAR, West Bank — A pipe bomb that exploded late on Wednesday night outside the Jerusalem home of Zeev Sternhell, a Hebrew University professor, left him lightly wounded and created only a minor stir in a nation that routinely experiences violence on a much larger scale.

But Mr. Sternhell was noted for his impassioned critiques of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, once suggesting that Palestinians “would be wise to concentrate their struggle against the settlements.” And the authorities found fliers near his home offering nearly $300,000 to anyone who kills a member of Peace Now, a left-wing Israeli advocacy group, leading them to suspect that militant Israeli settlers or their supporters were behind the attack.

If so, the bombing may be the latest sign that elements of Israel’s settler movement are resorting to extremist tactics to protect their homes in the occupied West Bank against not only Palestinians, but also Jews who some settlers argue are betraying them. Radical settlers say they are determined to show that their settlements and outposts cannot be dismantled, either by law or by force.

There have been bouts of settler violence for years, notably during the transfer of Gaza to the Palestinians in 2005. Now, though, the militants seem to have spawned a broader, more defined strategy of resistance designed to intimidate the state.

This aggressive doctrine, according to Akiva HaCohen, 24, who is considered to be one of its architects, calls on settlers and their supporters to respond “whenever, wherever and however” they wish to any attempt by the Israeli Army or the police to lay a finger on property in illegally built outposts scheduled by the government for removal. In settler circles the policy is called “price tag” or “mutual concern.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/world/middleeast/26settlers.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&bl&ei=5087&en=cd491cbff8aac3b9&ex=1222574400

[bemildred]

1. The new Boers.

(Spank, spank, spank, don't you dare suggest this is anything like South Africa.)

[LeftishBrit]

2. Disgusting...

perhaps the settlers' open rebellion against their own government will at least prove an impetus for a harder line to be taken against them.

[henank]

3. Aren't you all jumping the gun?

Has anyone taken credit for this bombing? Has any evidence been presented (besides a few pamphlets near the scene which might or might not have any connection to the incident)?

Whenever Palestinian terrorists carry out an attack there is a choir of readers who say "it wasn't this group, it was that group" or "where's the evidence?" or "false flag". But when it comes to a leftist being attacked, suddenly it's just "obvious" it was the settlers.

You are all aware that there are other rightists in Israel besides just settlers. You are, aren't you???

[shira]

13. The hypocrisy is astounding

Ze'ev Sternhell actually called upon Palestinians to carry out what he described as legitimate attacks vs. settlers (not just extremists but general 'settlers') in Ha'aretz, May 2001.

Of course now that he is the target, 'crime is crime' all-of-a-sudden and those who rightfully call on the Jewish perpetrators to be tried harshly for this are not looking for any excuses, dialogues or motivations for this terror attack (as is usually the case for Arab on Jew terror). Nor do they attribute scare-quotes and question whether this is truly "terror" (and of course it is, like any terror attack against average Israelis).

You think those who howl loudest against this terror attack (like Peace Now) are calling on the demolition of the guilty settler's homes - or will they fight such an injunction as they would against any Palestinian's home?

[Scurrilous]

4. Olmert: 'Jewish underground' behind attack on left-wing professor

<snip>

"A new ultranationalist underground is apparently active in Israel and responsible for a bombing that wounded an outspoken critic of Jewish settlement in the West Bank, outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday.

"The security agencies have been ordered to deal with this case, investigate it and act with the utmost speed to bring to justice what appears to be another underground," Olmert told his cabinet in broadcast remarks."

<snip>

"Olmert compared the bombing with the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish ultranationalist and a hand grenade attack that killed a Peace Now activist in 1983.

"A bad wind of extremism, hate, evil, violence and contempt for state authorities is blowing through certain sectors of the Israeli public and threatening Israeli democracy," said Olmert, who is engaged in land-for-peace talks with the Palestinians.

In the 1980s, a Jewish underground group, acting after six Jewish seminary students were killed in a Palestinian attack, carried out bombings that maimed several West Bank mayors and a shooting in an Islamic college that killed three students.

Members of the group were jailed but the sentences were later commuted by then-President Chaim Herzog."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1025124.html

[Scurrilous]

5. Defense Minister: Violent settlers must be punished

<snip>

"Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday urged cabinet ministers to adopt a tougher stance on punishing West Bank settlers over violent acts against Palestinians.

Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Barak cited the unruly behavior of settlers who he said tended to take the law into their own hands, causing damage to Palestinian property.

The defense minister also stressed that settler attacks on Israel Police officers and Israel Defense Forces soldiers stationed near settlements presented a danger to Israeli public service. He said that of late, IDF officers have arrested a number of settler youth charged with disturbing peace.

Although the incidents have been recorded, Barak said, the offenders have rarely been brought to court or tried for their actions. Those who are brought before legal authorities are discussed with light penalties, Barak added."

<snip>

"Meanwhile, the body of a 19-year-old Palestinian shepherd was found with gunshot wounds late Saturday night near a West Bank village south of Nablus, in an attack Palestinians blamed on local settlers."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1025123.html

[distonworker]

6. Jimmy Carter would know what to do

All the others just look the other way

[oberliner]

7. Israel Police: Settlers were not behind Palestinian teen's death

Israel Police on Monday said a Palestinian shepherd found dead in the West Bank late Saturday was killed in an accidental explosion, not by settlers.

Yihya Atta Bani Minya, 18, had been missing from his hometown of Akrabeh since Saturday afternoon. He was found dead near Gitit, in the Jordan Valley.

Neighbors and relatives of the teenager had accused extremist settlers of killing him, and police looked into that possibility. But spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said forensics experts determined the shepherd was killed after he picked up an unexploded shell that detonated in his hands.

Rosenfeld said the shepherd's body suffered shrapnel wounds, and there were no signs the shepherd was shot.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1025445.html

[Scurrilous]

8. Israeli commander says settler violence rising

<snip>

"The Israeli military commander in charge of the occupied West Bank said settler violence against Palestinians and Israeli soldiers was on the rise in what he called a "grave phenomenon."

"There has been a rise in Jewish violence in Judea and Samaria," Major General Gadi Shamni said in an interview with Israel's Haaretz newspaper published on Thursday, using the biblical name for the West Bank.

"In the past, only a few dozen individuals took part in such activity, but today that number has grown into the hundreds. That's a very significant change... It's a very grave phenomenon," he said.

In recent weeks settlers have stepped up attacks against both the Israeli soldiers who are charged with protecting them and against Palestinians.

In perhaps the most graphic incident, a mob of Jewish settlers rampaged through a West Bank village in September after an intruder stabbed and wounded a young boy and set a mobile home on fire in a nearby settlement."

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[oberliner]

9. MK Pines-Paz: Attack on Prof. Sternhell act of terror

"There are violent forces operating within Israel," said Knesset Member Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor-Meimad) on Thursday during an Internal Affairs Committee meeting that discussed the recent attack on Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell and the threats made against left-wing activist.

"(These forces) don't hesitate taking the law into their own hands and try to assassinate anyone standing in their way," he added.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3604410,00.html

[Scurrilous]

10. Settlers clash with rabbis guarding Palestinian olive harvest near Hebron

<snip>

"Jewish settlers clashed with activists of the Rabbis for Human Rights movement near the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday as they protected Palestinians beginning the annual olive harvest.

Israeli police and soldiers grappled with settlers who tried to drive off local Palestinians and international supporters of Palestinian rights in the West Bank.

"This is just the beginning of the olive harvest which will be going on for the next two months," said the executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights, Arik Ascherman.

He said activists were going to 40 Palestinian villages to protect olive growers and uphold their right to work the land, and harvest. They would act "as human shields" if necessary.

A settler woman screamed "Murderer, murderer" at the rabbi, and settlers angrily shouted down any activists trying to explain their aims to TV reporters.

The West Bank olive harvest has developed over the past decade into a regular confrontation between Palestinian farmers and Israelis who have settled on nearby land.

Palestinians say settler harassment often turns to encroachment and eventually seizure of more land in the name of settler "security".

"There are those who say all the land of Israel belongs only to the Jewish people," Ascherman said. "Everybody knows these are Palestinian-owned trees."

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[azurnoir]

11. Why is IDF still guarding these people?

“We would rather fight and kill the enemy,” Mr. Ben Shochat said, adding scornfully that the army, which guards Yitzhar and its satellites from the lookout post, “would rather hide.”

It would seem they think they can take care of themselves, perhaps it is time to test that theory,the PA can guard the Palestinian villages.

[Scurrilous]

12. West Bank on edge as young radicals settle in

Militant Jews living near outposts increasing attacks on Palestinians

<snip>

"Midhat Abu Karsh, a teacher in this Palestinian village, got down on the floor to demonstrate how he had been tied to a telephone pole by militant Jewish settlers, a rope around his neck and leg, then kicked by a settler as Israeli soldiers stood nearby.

"I told the soldiers he was coming to hit me, but they let him reach me," Abu Karsh said of the incident in July, which was caught on video by Israeli peace activists and posted on the Web site of the Israeli daily Haaretz.

After the kick, the soldiers pushed the settler away. They later untied Abu Karsh, who had been beaten after he was seized, and treated his injuries before he was taken to a hospital in a Palestinian ambulance.

The incident at the unauthorized settlement outpost of Asa'el in the southern West Bank followed an attempt by Abu Karsh and relatives to work on their farmland nearby. Settlers wielding sticks drove the Palestinians away and seized Abu Karsh, who limps because of a birth defect and could not run. They accused him of setting fire to their land, he said.

The assault on the teacher was part of what Israeli army officials say is a marked increase in violence in recent months by radical settlers in areas around their outposts, many of them makeshift trailer encampments built without government authorization.

"There is a rise in Jewish violence in Judea and Samaria," Maj. Gen. Gadi Shamni, the chief of the army's Central Command, told Haaretz in an interview published Friday, referring to the West Bank by its biblical names. "In the past only a few dozen were involved. Today it involves a few hundred people. That is a very significant change."

A recent UN report cited 222 incidents of settler violence in the first half of 2008, compared to 291 in all of 2007."

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