World>Terrorism & Security
posted February 14, 2005, updated 12:35 p.m.

Militant settlers issue fresh threats to Sharon

Israeli security officials warn opponents of Sharon's planned Gaza pullout not to incite violence.

By Jim Bencivenga | csmonitor.com

For Israelis, the irony of Sunday's cabinet meeting is palpable.

Jewish officials discussed the increasing threats against its leaders by Jewish settlers opposed to a plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. At the same time, these officials voted to free 500 Palestinian prisoners "as a step toward defusing four years of violence," reports News24.

The twin developments on Sunday showed that just as Israeli-Palestinian fighting winds down in the wake of a truce declared at a summit meeting last Tuesday, internal Israeli tensions are escalating into warnings of political assassinations.

Israeli security services on Sunday announced increased protection of public officials, reports Reuters.

Death threats "against cabinet ministers by militant Jews opposed to a planned pullout from the Gaza Strip," prompted the action, reports the Israeli daily, Ha'aretz.

Most of the threats appear to be aimed at [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon, who has been vilified by ultranationalists ever since his turnaround from being the darling of the Jewish settler movement to a leader determined to withdraw from Gaza and the northern West Bank.
Graffiti threatening him with death and doctored photographs of Sharon dressed in a Stalinist uniform with the words "The Dictator" have become increasingly common, drawing comparisons to the sort of incitement that preceded the Rabin assassination.

The timing of the threats combined with the possibility that they might lead to some illegal action this week stems from Mr. Sharon informing the Knesset foreign affairs committee that the cabinet would vote this coming Sunday on the evacuation of all Gaza settlements outlined in the disengagement plan. "Sharon said evacuation would be carried out over a 12-week period starting in July," reports the Jerusalem Post.


02/011/05 Did Kim Jung Il miscalculate? 02/10/04 Iraq to close borders next week 02/09/05 Europe appreciates visit by Rice

Sign up to be notified daily: Find out more.

On Monday Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra called for rightist extremists to be placed in administrative detention, reports Agence Frrance Prresse.

But Deputy State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan said Monday that Justice Ministry officials " preferred to deal with the threats through the criminal justice system, rather than through administrative detention," says Ha'aretz.

Administrative detention, a vestige of British Mandatory laws from the mid-1940s, is a summary arrest and jailing without trial, usually for a renewable period of six months.

Itamar Ben Gvir, a prominent right-wing activist, shoved the body guards of Education Minister Limor Livnat last week "after yelling at her that she was not doing enough to stop the disengagement plan, which calls for the evacuation of all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and four communities in the West Bank," reports The Associated Press.

Mr. Ben Gvir "subsequently said that he and his allies would physically pursue all government supporters of the disengagement program," reports AP.

Mr. Ezra recommended that Ben Gvir of the outlawed Kach Party be arrested under administrative detention provisions, reported Ha'aretz. He was reacting to comments made by Ben Gvir

who told Israel Radio that the right would hound Sharon and his cabinet ministers in order to tell them that that they are engaged in acts of "betrayal," a word that the far-right has used in the past as a code for treason punishable by death.

National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer read out a death threat he received by mail, while reminding ministers that "a month before Yitzhak Rabin's assassination I was warning against mounting political violence just like now and saying that we should hold a special discussion about it, but Rabin silenced me and nobody else listened," reports Ha'aretz

Mr. Ezra noted that he was worried about rightist leaders "who stay within the letter of the law, but have an influence over others."

'Someone ... who knows the limits of the law, watches his language, but could attract youths who listen to him and are swept away by him. We all know they could act on their own, later on. We must stop this phenomenon.'

In Monday's lead editorial, the Jerusalem Post unequivocally condemned threats against government officials. Acknowledging that on settlement issues there is the need to first distinguish between "legitimate political concerns and opposition, on the one hand, and gangsterism, on the other," the Post reminds all parties involved that "there is an argument to be made that Sharon has bulldozed rather than finessed" his Gaza policy. Regardless,

those who employ violence, intimidation and incitement must be identified, isolated and prosecuted....
Unfortunately, it is too late for words alone. Anti-disengagement leaders - particularly religious figures - need to banish those who stray in the direction of incitement and violence. And synagogues and communities should shun such persons.