Settlers vow more protests as latest efforts to block freeze fall short

Yesterday saw another round of frenzied confrontation between settlers, police and security services in the West Bank, in the wake of an order to freeze construction in the settlements.

"It will be like this for three or four weeks, and then the army and police will collapse," said Itzik Shadmi, chair of the settlers' committee in Binyamin regional council.

Shadmi, among the organizers of the settlers' campaign to block inspectors from traveling the West Bank to distribute construction freeze orders, said he is convinced that just a little more effort could bring a turnaround in the battle over settlement construction.

Yesterday inspectors struggled to reach some building sites in West Bank settlements. The most dramatic event yesterday occurred at Ma'aleh Levona, where around noon Civil Administration and Border Police vehicles seeking to enter the settlement were blocked by female students of a religious seminary. The women were led in their efforts by Rabbi Gadi Ben-Zimra, heavily involved in past campaigns against the evacuations of Gaza Strip settlements and the northern West Bank outpost of Amona.

The students sat on top of the vehicle, defaced another and prepared barricades to block the only road leading into the settlement, ultimately forcing the inspectors to leave.

The commander of Binyamin Brigade, Col. Aviv Reshef, deliberated with other top army brass for four hours before deciding to enter the settlement by force.

In the meantime, the seminary students locked the settlement gate, stood behind it and prepared stone barricades. The assembled group of 100 police special forces and Border Policemen was then forced to climb over the gate in order to open it. Some girls hurled stones at the forces, and were met with a stun grenade. Ultimately, the police entered the settlement through an alternative path, leaving around 6 P.M.

In a similar incident, Deputy Shomron Regional Council Chairman Reuven Gur Aryeh was lightly hurt during clashes between settlers and police, and taken to the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva for treatment.

A group of settler supporters brought the fight inside the Green Line last night when they blocked an intersection of Route 1 at the entrance to Jerusalem. Five teens were detained for questioning.

Livni attacks

Kadima chair Tzipi Livni launched a verbal attack against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting for his inclusion of West Bank settlement blocs in the building freeze.

"The failure to distinguish between outposts and settlement blocs is causing Israel damage - we are losing our ability to set defensible borders," Livni said.

"Your view, to show that the Palestinians don't want an agreement, will not be accepted by the international community. It will be seen as an Israeli trick," she said. "We will return to building at the end of a 10-month freeze, even if negotiations are relaunched with the Palestinians. Jerusalem was not included in the decision to suspend construction. We are continuing to build in Jerusalem."

Security forces intend to make it even more difficult for local councils in the West Bank to build new structures during the freeze, after deciding to grant entry permits to Palestinian construction workers only if they are employed at buildings which have received Civil Administration authorization. Most of the buildings erected in the settlements are built by Palestinians who need Civil Administration permission to enter Jewish communities.