The Od Yosef Chai yeshiva threw a party some 10 days ago to welcome the first Torah scroll into the temporary structure that the yeshiva currently calls home, on a hill near the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. Hundreds of residents of Yitzhar and its outposts attended the celebration, which was accompanied by song, dance and prayer.
A few hundreds meters away, an improvised book fair took shape, with the finest ideological and religious writings of the area's rabbis on offer, including works by Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg, the head of the yeshiva, which was once located at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus.
Piled up among the splendidly bound books were leaflets dealing with the burning issue of the day. Some were signed by the La'akev Ve'limnoa ?(Delay and Prevent?) movement, whose activists, primarily youths, speak of three scenarios for the future actions of residents of the area's outposts and settlements in light of the government's plans for another evacuation, perhaps in the near future.
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Scenario one: The Amona scenario, in which the settlers manage to hold off "the deportation forces" for a number of days, in the spirit of the resistance put up in Amona and Kfar Darom. The price ? thousands of wounded; the result ? evacuation and "a sense of frustration, bitterness and misery among the public."
Scenario two: A "defensive offense" ? defensive posts are set up at all the settlements; volunteers sign up and are posted in the field; an orderly set of plans is put together; equipment is stockpiled; a command and logistics system goes into operation; groups of activists are sent out to sabotage military equipment and hamper military movement; the actions influence the mood in other parts of the country; a hacker infiltrates military computers and infects them with a series of viruses; laxatives are found in the water tanks on military bases.
Scenario three: An "offensive defense" ? the instigation of numerous points of friction between Jews and Arabs. Jewish youths enter Arab villages at night and vandalize property; fights break out in Lod, Ramle, Jaffa, Haifa, Wadi Ara and the Galilee, and Arab Israelis embark on a third intifada; the government's deportation plan is put on hold until further notice.
Most of the residents of Yitzhar's six outposts reject this course of action, but some admit that they have no control over the youths and sympathize with them in part.
Yehuda Liebman, perhaps the most well-known outpost resident in the Yitzhar area, lost his brother, Shlomo, in a terror attack some eight years ago. He and his wife, Rachel, live today at Givat Lahava, along with another 11 families. The outpost was established 11 years ago, about one kilometer southeast of Yitzhar.
Liebman has heard of La'akev Ve'limnoa, but does not know who is behind the movement and denies any connection with it. He does, however, express an understanding for its sentiments. "I am not calling on anyone to follow this path, but the sentiments as expressed in these leaflets ? the work of our youth perhaps ? I understand well, and sometimes identify with," he said. "They have declared war on us, and there are two alternatives ? either we accept the decree, like Gush Katif, or we go out and do battle, without of course any harm to anyone. How exactly this battle should be waged requires review and consideration."
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