Uzi Benziman

The settlers are rebelling against the rule of law and the authority of the state. As if that were not enough, when the law catches up with them, they act as if they are the ones who have been wronged.

The sheer nonsense in Eitam's decision to move south can be seen in its very declared purpose: to increase artificially the number of Jewish settlers living there. But no empty gestures by public personages will change the tangible numerical reality.

Summoning Jews who are foreign citizens to Israel for a limited period of time, to participate actively in events involving the violation of state laws and confrontation with the Israeli security forces, is testimony to the distorted concept of the radical right-wing leaders.

Until now, the Arab sector in Israel would brandish the name of Oscar Abu Razek as living proof of discrimination: The man was never appointed to the post of income tax commissioner despite having the requisite skills, and had to make do with the position of deputy commissioner. The reason was not a secret: He is an Arab.

The assigning of Sasson and Spiegel to dig out the serpentine burrows, through which government energies traveled in creating 122 settlements and some 105 unauthorized outposts in the West Bank, stemmed from George Bush's breath on Ariel Sharon's neck.

Last week the police struck again. No, not at organized crime, and not at rampaging drivers on the roads, and not at the car thieves and burglars. It chose to once again attack public morale and its sense of confidence and security.

A referendum would not insure the state against harm by extremist elements on both sides of the political divide.

Prime minister Ariel Sharon has made the Supreme Court into a scapegoat for Israel's security difficulties. At a Likud faction session on Sunday, he said the construction of the separation fence is being delayed by the High Court. "The problem is the legal system," the prime minister diagnosed.

There is no relief in the understanding that evil-wishers are lying in ambush for the cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians and doing everything to sabotage it. What matters is the experience and its effect on people's state of mind.

The attributes Sharon has given disengagement as the hardest decision of his life holds a repulsive moral and human lesson: that land, wherever it is, is more sacred than human life.

The government's decisions with regard to withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and Samaria were taken in a due manner, and the changes in the composition of the coalition during the government's term of office are an accepted practice in local political culture.

The small fry among the threatened politicians look like they pushed their way to the front of the line so they can be numbered among the headliners who received letters and threats.

The considerations and spirit of mutual restraint that guided Israel and Egypt's leaders in several incidents since the signing of the peace treaty should now apply to Israel's relations with the Palestinians.

Behind the series of protests, which have been held one after another in recent months, are calculated individuals trying to terrify the prime minister and the general public.

Now is the time to break free of the delusions about the Greater Land of Israel and to accept the fulfillment of the Zionist vision inside the borders delineated by the Green Line. It would be terrible if Israeli society only reaches this sober conclusion after another round of bloodshed.

The rift within religious Zionism is deeper than the one that dismembered the kibbutz movement because it grows out of its attitude toward the state, on one hand, and the status of halakha, on the other.

The authorities, who seemingly have the power and authority to execute the disengagement plan, are passing this hot potato from one to the other, looking for ways to cover their asses in case the entire move ends in failure.

The majority presently supporting the disengagement plan is fluid. Only a minority of Israelis is willing to observe the ongoing terrorist attacks calmly, seeing them as steps in a struggle in which foreign hands (Iran and Hezbollah) are also involved.

As things appeared this week, Sharon and his new government intend to grab the opportunity offered with the election of Abu Mazen and not repeat the mistake of the previous government, which waited for Abu Mazen the chick to grow its feathers.

The occupation created circumstances that drove soldiers and civilians as individuals and the state as a whole to make illegal decisions and act contrary to the law.

The role that the settlers' leaders are playing these days is dubious and dangerous. They organize - with funding deriving from the state treasury as well - a strike opposite the Knesset under the slogan: We will do in Jerusalem what the Ukrainians did in Kiev.

The chief army chaplain has proven that he cannot detach himself from civilian right-wing rabbis who have called for refusal. He therefore no longer deserves to continue wearing a uniform.

When a state chooses not to demarcate its geographic borders, its internal borders - which determine its identity and set the rules of the game used there - also remain dimly defined.

Has Sharon changed and can he be trusted? Memory and lessons of the past mingle with the heart's tendency to give Sharon credit, warning against it: Do not fall into the trap. The man is prone to deceive.

The fact is that the number of violent incidents and the number of injured resulting from this activity is back on the rise: In the past three days alone (as of last night), the IDF has killed six Palestinians, one of them a 7-year-old girl, and injured three others.