IDF commander: Settler leaders 'losing control' to rioting youths

Israel should have thought of the consequences when it decided to settle the West Bank in a grand design to grab Judea and Samaria to ensure a fait accompli would forever deny the Palestinians a home land in the occupied territories. The Israelis did so against the express wishes of every US administration, in violation of international law, of UN resolutions and the 4th Geneva Convention. The chickens have come home to roost. Israel doesn't deserve international help to solve the problem.

removing settlements "imposible?" nope it would be easy to do just notify "settlements" that IDF protection of settlements and settlement roads ends as of a certain date and time . Any "settlers" that remain will be administered by palestinians there after and then lets see how many remain after the deadline

good post!

Why Israel doesn t pull back from the westbank? Pulling out of the westbank would put at least 250.000 frustrated, selfrighteous and homeless settlers at the doorsteps of jewish homes within the borders of 1967?? I really do believe that many Jews would like to withdraw, to end occupation and to stop the neverending misery of the Palestinian people, but as long as settlers are about to attack even IDF and israelian police, it seems to be easier to keep the line?. and to avoid Civil War in Israel. After 1967 it seemed to be the best idea to annect the Westbank: Land, water, maybe even an upgrade of security. It turned out to be the biggest mistake ever.

If the extremist settlers are capable of violently attacking the IDF and their fellow Jews in this manner, just imagine how they treat the nearby Palestinian inhabitants. And you wonder why the Palestinians oppose these settlements?

This is the problem created by Israel when it wanted to establish "facts on the ground" on land belonging to another people. Too bad about the settlers who will sooner or later have to leave. Somebody should have told them there's no free lunch and that they need to go back to Israel or wherever else they came from.

"If you want to pull out of ALL Judean and Samarian settlements" It's called the west Bank now. ".. we are talking about a population of roughly 250,000 residents" Illegal residents.. " When Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip, roughly 10,000 residents were evicted and there are still MANY of those people without proper housings and compensation for their lost careers" 'careers' being illegal setlers. Strange career. " That is 1/25 of WB. The infrastructure and land just does not exist" The land does. We were given more than enough for every one of us on the planet May 14th 1948. "As far as land for peace, I can imagine some settlements being evicted, but all of WB?! Impossible." Because it ISN'T Israeli. It was never legally annexed.

MJM talks about the practical impossibility of removing the 250,000 West Bank settlers, who would need homes, jobs and financial compensation. "I can imagine some settlements being evicted, but all of WB?! Impossible." You need a better can-do attitude MJM. They (and the other 250,000 from E J'sem) can all be permanently rehoused in refugee caps in Israel. For what would they deserve compensation, you don't get paid for land theft do you? That worked perfectly well for the Palestinians, 4 million of them have lived in camps for 60 years. No proper homes, tremendously high unemployment of course and they didn't get a dime's compensation for their land, homes and businesses stolen by the Jewish state. But hey, what goes around comes around. If Israel is not having to fund the exorbitant cost of settlements, with all these housing subsidies and roads and security and services, it will easily be able to throw up some cheap camps to accommodate the 500,000. Problem solved. Simples!

The Israeli government does not need your permission before doing whatever it wants if the action is legal. Ask yourself what your reaction would be if an Israeli Arab were to make the same post you did.

Are all settlements legal? I think that the rioting youth was having bad conscious and as they see the state of Israel as a enemy, therefor it was ok to attack IDF, I see the settlers more as an segregation movement then pioneers that are braking new land for coming generations. The IDF didn't do anything wrong, the wrong was made by the settlers. //Jan

When one of those stones kills an IDF soldier, we will remember that Israelis did nothing to control their own troublemakers.

More civilized countries have an approach to this problem that works well. France uses a "restricted zone" in French Guiana where outsiders are not allowed. This allows primitives to develop without getting killed by outsiders. Pakistan has a "tribal belt" where foreign influence is avoided and the savages are protected. Israeli settlers could be moved to a small area with a wall built around them, for protection, and the government could prohibit others from killing the settlers by keeping them apart. The tribal area should be away from national borders and should not conflict with any possible deal with the Palestinians.

To Kalil, You asked someone to tell you why pulling out of the settlements is such a hard things to do. I'd like to assume that task. If you want to pull out of ALL Judean and Samarian settlements, we are talking about a population of roughly 250,000 residents. When Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip, roughly 10,000 residents were evicted and there are still MANY of those people without proper housings and compensation for their lost careers. That is 1/25 of WB. The infrastructure and land just does not exist. As far as land for peace, I can imagine some settlements being evicted, but all of WB?! Impossible.

Perhaps its time for the media to take the leaders more seriously rather than continuously undermining their control.

Of course...they see no hope for their future...it is a sad, sad, situation...the ones they were to trust in, have turned their backs on them...their own brothers and fellow Jews...my YHVH have mercy on them, for I would not want to stand before Him on judgement day with that written in the book of days....

From Haaretz's own article yeasteday it was clear that nobody informed the residents of Yitzhar that the IDF was conducting a drill. They (rightly) thought it was an attack.

Can someone please tell me why pulling out of the settlements is such a hard thing to do?

C'mon, lighten up on the IDF commanders! From over here--and with a dog in the fight only marginally--it strikes me that they are just trying to avoid civil war...and if Kermit the Frog thought "being green" wasn't easy, he didn't know the half of it. Sheesh!

I dont mind why the youth attacked the cops/soldiers, but i'd like to remark : In every democratic state, attacking soldiers/policemen would have severe consequences, arrests, trials, iiiif rightly, convictions, maybe jail ... depends, but it wont it sure wont be considered a "mistake"

Perhaps if the army weren't so routinely involved in missions AGAINST the Jewish Residents of Judea and Samaria, such misunderstandings wouldn't occur. But it has gotten to the point where the residents see the Army and Police as their ENEMY and rightfully so. There was a time, not so long ago when soldiers were welcomed with open arms in most communities. Sadly, that is not the case today, and the fault is not with the "rioting youth", but the cynical politicians who turned the army against its own citizens and created this adversarial atmosphere, which has gotten so bad that residents start to scramble to defend themselves every time they see and army jeep or police car. If the army's missions were limited to PROTECTING the people and not ATTACKING them, such incidents would NOT occur. But if the government insists on continuing this dangerous suicidal policy, this will only be the BEGINNING of the backlash.

So of which of the common values that we share is this one an example then?

We should leave out there without Tsahal and see how long you can last on your own. You're the obstacle to peace and everyone knows it!

funny how the IDF always acts extremely tough towards Palestinians yet seems completely impotent when it comes to dealing with disorderly settlers and their offspring!

They act that way because they know there will be no governmental response. A few day of treatment as though they were Palestinians (rubber bullets, tear gas, administrative detention, judicious beatings by police) would very quickly moderate their behavior.

What are youngsters doing in West bank settlements anyway? Shouldn't they be serving in tsahal and defending the country rather than stirring tension in illegal outpost and embarrasing Israelis?

This is what happens when the army that is supposed to defend the Jewish people is turned into thugs to destroy them. Residents of Samaria have every reason to suspect a band of goons under the command of a bullying thug like Barak and a coward like Netanyahu.