Subscribe to Print Edition | Sat., October 24, 2009 Cheshvan 6, 5770 | | Israel Time: 06:37 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Jewish World Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Focus U.S.A. Strenger than Fiction Business Travel Magazine Week's End Anglo File Books
A Jewish settler, right, points his gun at Palestinians and activists during a protest against the confiscation of land by the Jewish settlement of Bracha in the West Bank village of Burin in August.
(AP)
Share |
Last update - 11:09 20/10/2009
Top IDF officer warns: Settlers' radical fringe growing
By Anshel Pfeffer
Tags: West Bank, settlers 

The extremist fringe of West Bank settlers is growing, a senior officer on the Israel Defense Forces General Staff warned this week.

Though most West Bank settlers are law abiding, the officer said, recent years have seen an upswing in violent attacks by extremist settlers against both IDF troops and neighboring Palestinians.

The officer blamed individuals "formerly in positions of power, who are now unemployed and setting up all kinds of committees," for fanning the flames of radical sentiment among settlers. He did not name names, but top army officials suggested he might be referring to former Kedumim mayor Daniella Weiss.
Advertisement

Weiss is widely seen as a leader of the aggressive young settlers commonly termed "hilltop youth," who have come into open conflict with both the IDF and leaders of the Yesha Council of settlements.

"The West Bank today is a hothouse for weeds," the officer said. However, he stressed, most of the Jewish settlers are "normative" individuals.

Extremist settlers object to steps the army has taken this past year to ease restrictions on Palestinians, the officer said, including removing checkpoints and reducing the IDF presence in Palestinian cities.

Over the past two years, the defense establishment has taken a harder line against unruly settlers. Whereas in the past, outpost evacuations and crowd-control missions were handled by IDF soldiers, outgoing GOC Central Command Gadi Shamni instituted a policy of delegating all such missions to the Border Police, thereby sparing soldiers direct contact with settlers.

As a result, Shamni and the former West Bank Division commander, Brig. Gen. Noam Tivon, have traveled the West Bank accompanied by bodyguards for the past two years, due to threats received from settlers.

While construction continues within West Bank settlements and outposts, army officials maintain that no new outposts have been erected in the past two years.

The police's West Bank division has set up an operational headquarters to handle outpost evacuations. However, the IDF officer said, "the army has no operational plans for an extensive evacuation and hasn't received any government instructions on this matter."

Related articles:
  • Settler leaders: Construction freeze can't stop us
  • Settlers are encountering their first real opponent - Obama
  • IDF: More than 300,000 settlers live in West Bank
    • PROMOTION: Mamilla Hotel
    Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    Barring Refaeli
    Ultra-Orthodox rabbis are irate over a highway billboard featuring model Bar Refaeli.
    Goldstone vs. Obama
    Goldstone challenges U.S. president: Show me flaws in the report on Gaza war crimes.
      1.   observation 04:26  |  potobac 20/10/09
      2.   IDF Should Stop Settler Attacks on Palestinians 05:48  |  Vladek 20/10/09
      3.   this is just the very tip of the iceberg 05:55  |  eric 20/10/09
      4.   Law abiding settlers? Normative individuals? 06:07  |  jim the mechanic 20/10/09
      5.   What did you expect? 07:09  |  doubleplusgood 20/10/09
      6.   A wind of revolt. 07:53  |  B. Gold 20/10/09
      7.   the government let the settlers get out of control 08:16  |  pesach avrum 20/10/09
      8.   The justice system and media are a dictatorship................. 09:59  |  E.Q. 20/10/09
      9.   Radical fringe growing 10:59  |  sh 20/10/09
      10.   Settler radical fringe 11:11  |  Bruria 20/10/09
      11.   Be careful 12:05  |  JL 20/10/09
      12.   # 4 Well Louisiana has Cajuns.. 14:57  |  Petra 20/10/09
      13.   NU? And This Is News? 15:02  |  Yaakov Sullivan 20/10/09
      14.   #6, B. Gold... 15:06  |  Silvienne 20/10/09
      15.   #10, Bruria... 15:09  |  Silvienne 20/10/09
      16.   Thank You Bruna 15:14  |  Jackie 20/10/09
      17.   The real Israel on display 15:17  |  W 20/10/09
      18.   #3 eric bemoans reality at last no more appeasers 15:19  |  vhardman 20/10/09
      19.   # 18 wake up to the world, vhardman 04:31  |  eric 21/10/09
      20.   SHEESH, IF I WERE FEARING FOR MY LIFE and of losing my home 05:22  |  Debbie 21/10/09
      21.   v hardman 18 12:53  |  potobac 21/10/09
      22.   What do you expect? 01:42  |  Denise 23/10/09
      23.   Very True 20:07  |  Vladek 23/10/09
    Special Offers
    Advertisement
    Eldan Rent a Car
    Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations
    Date Local Jewish Singles
    Ready to meet your match? Join Jdate today!
    Junkyard
    Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
    More Headlines
    04:42 Abbas calls Palestinian elections for January
    23:22 Netanyahu hopes for Obama meet in November
    22:55 Shalom: International community must condemn Iran agreement
    21:28 State-run TV: Iran rejects nuclear draft deal
    23:14 The missing spark
    14:30 Lieberman to Ban: Don't let Goldstone report gain ground in UN
    11:23 After Lebanon war devastation, Hezbollah suburb now booming
    21:10 TV ROUND-UP: World waits on Iran, IDF threatens pro-settler troops
    14:32 Israel confirms settlers ramping up West Bank construction
    08:48 COMMENT / BBC is correct to give platform to far-rightist
    09:46 IDF threatens to dismiss 'disgraceful' pro-settler troops
    18:02 Solana to Haaretz: New rules of war needed for age of terror
    07:29 Shulamit Aloni / Shas 'racial purity' policy toward migrant kids is a disgrace
    Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Site rules |
    | Advert: Recommended Restaurants | Makom: Engaging on Israel
    | Search engine marketing
    Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
    © Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved