Top IDF officer warns: Settlers' radical fringe growing
Over the past two years, the defense establishment has taken a harder line against unruly settlers.
By Anshel Pfeffer Tags: Israel news West Bank Israel settlersThe 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.
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."
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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. |
| Photo by: (AP) |
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The zealot settlers carry weapons, threaten and abuse Palestinians. They react with hostility to the IDF even though often the IDF tolerates settler excesses. They have damaged the world image of Israel. Their demands interfere with an effective peace process. From all appearances, Netanyahu and Lieberman are supportive of some of the most egregious among these zealots. This does not bode well for the future of Israel, lasting peace nor ascribing to the high moral ground.
Well, heck.....you treat them with kid gloves, pay them welfare to breed, allow them to avoid military service...gave them $$ to relocate to the settlements, allow acts like depraved animals,anything else we are missing? Shamefull. The settlers will be Israels biggest downfall, even more so, than the wall. Sad!
Please explain what you mean when you refer to the judicially enforceable legislation on the subject in the US.
of being evicted along with my entire community, and of being beaten up in the process, as it happened at the Amona pogrom, I'd be pretty radicalized too! According to the League of Nations Mandate Agreement it's their land. It was violated by the British during the Mandate and ignored by many others, including Israel's own leaders, but the legality of the League of Nations Agreement stands even today. The UN is bound by that Agreement. So, shouldn't they be angry at being dispossesed of what's legally theirs?
either way, the settlements are doomed.
a group that enforces israels rights and doesnt acquiese to foreign interference ! the usa should look up its judicially enforcable legislation on the subject !
The "settlers" are only continuing the work of the original Zionists. Except now we have some documentary evidence of it.
I have been to Israel often enough and stayed long enough visiting family and friends to know that what you say is true. You forgot to add that the courts always favor Arabs in any dispute between Arabs and Jews, even when the Jews have papers showing they purchased land. Of course since any Arab selling land to a Jews risks death from the Islamic fringe maybe the courts are merely acting to protect their lives. Jews cannot live, or even visit, Mecca and Medina, buy land in Jordan or...But the "settlers" are called a fringe elment here
"Jews not allowed to live on legally purchased property--arabs allowed to sqat" You have it the wrong way around, Bruria...the Jews are living on Palestinian private property that was stolen from them. They are the squatters...
"it should come as no surprise that the only communication tool left them (the settlers) is the rock." Just as the only form of resistance left to the Palestinians is the rock...
You reap what you sow. Israel put them there, coddled them, let them steal land and intimidate and carry out their acts of violence. They gave them carte blanche to build and now to expand as a cover up for no new building for the past 2 yrs. Why build when you can expand. The fat cow of Bashan is bucking and now the parent that engender the monster is scared to come into the house? Too bad. A curse on both their houses. May their fate be that of Samson.
would you call them 'settlers' as well? Bet the Indians did, among other choice names.
These integrist are behaving like the fascist during the second wwII, and if the Israeli government doesn’t do anything to contain these fanatics, they will cause the defeat of israel in all fronts, so be careful.
Do you people even know what is going on in this country? Jews not allowed to live on legally purchased property--arabs allowed to sqat; Jews arrested and beaten by police--arabs left alone to avoid "political heat" and on and on. This is like reading Al Jazeera. Do you really believe that making Judea and Samaria "Judenrein" will give peace? Shame on you all...
""The West Bank today is a hothouse for weeds,"" These are weeds successive governments of Israel have sown, watered and nurtured. There is no sign in this article that any change is on the way regarding this kind of ecology. Getting rid of weeds means pulling them out one by one, roots and all. Don't let us blame Daniella Weiss, who is after all just one of the weeds our government, our Prime Ministers, planted there. They planted the Kedumim weed nursery there. The out runners of Kedumim have spread far beyond its original perimeter fence thanks to our governments' turned backs. Let our government and the increasingly compromised legal system that supports it take responsibility for practising this kind of husbandry.
a left wing dictatorship with no equality and justice for all. where there is no equality, there is war. Civil war will bring equality and the destruction of the LEFT.
it is clear now that sucessive Israel governments encouraged the settlement policy as a way of doing something the government itself could not do. but like the golem, or an unattended garden it has gotten out of control, with some extreme settlers now plotting against the army. chickens coming home to roost. bibi, who condoned the settlers must ironically now act to stop them, first by removing all illegal outposts and realizing Israel's security is threatened, not enhanced by continued expansion. he either learns, or is condemned to history as the architect of Israel's demise thru excess.
A qualitative group of people, that volunteers and contributes to society, feels a growing siege strangling them, although they are among the most devoted and patriotic citizens of the Jewish state, and their children command IDF fighting units out of proportion to their numbers. In a country where the justice system is political, a media that makes no room for a flow of opinions, where half the nation finds no place in the media discourse, it should come as no surprise that the only communication tool left them is the rock. In order to know more about the rights of settlers : http://xrl.us/bj5ng
What did you expect when one of their own was made the Foreign Minister? They feel like they are gaining power in the country so they are becoming more bold.
living on stolen land in illegaly built "settlements". Next he will be telling us they are reasonable and open to compromise...double speak and double think claims another victim in Israel! They are RADICAL and hardly fringe!....PEACE EVER?
i've mentioned this inevitability several times in the past. by israel's paternal acquiescence to the settlements, no enforced accountability for settlers, and the constant presence of the idf to protect them from any external consequences; it has created a lawless vacuum whose denizens will eventually turn on israel itself. a spooky thought when you consider the ever growing "settler" representation among the soldiers and officers of the idf.
Radical settlers feel empowered because the IDF does not take harsh action against their excesses. The burden of proof is always placed on the Palestinians if they are beat up by a mob of settlers.
If you allow any group to work against the law without consequences, they learn that they can do whatever they want. Don't condemn behavior you have encouraged.