Settler leaders fear 'tsunami' if PM decides to withdraw from West Bank - Haaretz

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Wed., November 14, 2007 Kislev 4, 5768

Israel Time: 01:43 (EST+7)

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Settler leaders fear 'tsunami' if PM decides to withdraw from West Bank

By Nadav Shragai

Settler leaders said they feel as if a "tsunami" were approaching after meeting with Prime Minster Ehud Olmert yesterday.

Danny Dayan, chairman of the Yesha Council of settlements, said that while he had previously understood the existing freeze on settlement construction to be aimed at forcing settlers to evacuate unauthorized outposts, he now realizes that Olmert favors the freeze for its own sake.

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According to Dayan, the freeze is currently total, "including kindergartens, caravans for schools, and lack of consideration for natural growth." Yet when he described this situation to Olmert, Dayan said, "he just sat there and didn't say a word."

Dayan said the settler leaders also warned Olmert that "expelling more than 100,000 people from their homes," as withdrawing from most of the West Bank would entail, "is not even slightly similar to expelling 10,000 people from their homes in Gush Katif two years ago. It's like comparing a flood in Pardes Hannah to a giant tsunami ... Such an expulsion would break the back of Israeli society. More and more population groups would feel alienated from the state and its institutions. It would be nothing like what we went through in Gush Katif."

During the hour-long meeting, which took place at Olmert's office in Jerusalem, the premier did little talking, settler leaders said; he mostly listened. However, they quoted him as giving one concluding speech:

"My feelings for the Land of Israel and its territory are similar to yours. I have no doubt that every inch of land from the Jordan [River] to the [Mediterranean] Sea is part of the Land of Israel and connected to the history and heritage of our people. However, I know that in order to ensure the future of the Land of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, we must also make concessions...

"[But] I can tell you one thing for certain: that there are places I will never withdraw from. And that, everyone knows - the Palestinians and the Americans - because I tell them so in a manner that cannot be misunderstood."

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