Israeli settlers vow civil disobedience
As disengagement date draws near, right-wing rabbis call for massive unrest.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was to hold "showdown talks" with representatives of settlers from the Gaza Strip Monday, over his plans to close all 21 Israeli settlements there, as well as four of 120 in the West Bank.
Middle East Online reports that leaders of the Gush Katif settlement bloc, "the home to the vast majority of the 8,000 Gaza settlers," were to push the Israeli government
for more compensation. The Knesset has already set aside more than $1 billon to compensate settlers who will be moved out of the Gaza strip and into Israel as part of Mr. Sharon's "disengagement plan."
One report said the leaders of the settlement realized that they were not going to win the fight to stay, and so were trying to get more money - another billion on top of the money already planned for their transfer.
'It would be irresponsible on our part to be obtuse and disregard reality,' one of the settler leaders who was to take part in the meeting with Sharon told the paper.
'There is no contradiction between a legitimate civic struggle against disengagement and concern for the day after, but we must take into account (the possibility) that the disengagement plan will be implemented.'
The
Associated Press also reports that the settlers would like to be moved as a "
group to one community in Israel."
Yet even with the talk of a deal between Mr. Sharon and the majority of settlers in Gaza, there are still fears that right-wing extremists in the movement may stage a violent act of some kind in an effort to disrupt the plan.
Reuters reports that the graves of assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and his wife Leah were
desecrated over the weekend by vandals, whom the police believe to be right-wing extremists. Last week the graves of Israel's "founding father" David Ben-Gurion, and a monument to Theodore Hertzl, the founder of the Zionist movement,
were also desecrated. Some lawmakers in Israel saw these acts as proof extremists plan to use violence to protest the disengagement plan.
'We are not dealing with the perpetrators of the previous crime [the assassination of Mr. Rabin] but with the perpetrators of the next one,' Ran Cohen of the leftist Yahad party told the
Jerusalem Post, alluding to concerns that Sharon could also be targeted for assassination.
On Sunday, Israeli police
increased security around the Dome of the Rock mosque in Jerusalem over fears of an attack by extremists. Israeli media reports that are concerns the extremists might fire shoulder-launched missles into the mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. The site is also revered by Jews as the Temple Mount.
Monday Senior Rabbi David Meir Druckman, chief rabbi of the Tel Aviv-area town of Kiryat Motzkin, and Rabbi Dov called on "Jews by the thousands" to risk arrrest and go to Gush Katif after the celebration of Passover (later this month).
The Jerusalem Newswire reports that Rabbis Druckman and Valfa have accused Sharon of
declaring war on "God and his word."
Ha'aretz reports that Druckman, who has refused to heed demands that he resign his position as a government official, is also the co-author of a recently distributed manefesto that calls for a massive uprising against the Israeli government. Druckman says his words and acts are not seditious.
'In the Book of Esther, there is a Jew who refuses an order. He is Mordechai, of whom it was said he was not defeated and would neither kneel nor bow down. Apparently they accused him of sedition, but in the end, we know who was right,' he said.
Now, Druckman said, 'to our great sorrow, the one who is bringing decrees down upon us is one of our brothers in Israel, Ariel Sharon, but the result doesn't change.'
The military plans to declare the Gaza a closed military area about 45 days before the evacuation, sometime in July. Anyone who tries to enter the Gaza and violate the order could be jailed for up to two years.
The Gaza Strip is not the only flashpoint between security forces and settlers.
Ha'aretz reports that extra border police have been
added to help prevent violence against Palestinians and Israeli security personnel near the northern West Bank settlement of Yitzhar.
Over the Purim holiday a group of mainly young settlers, believed to have come from Yitzhar, entered the Palestinian West Bank village of Asira Qibliyya, threw rocks and damaged property. The settlers, apparently inebriated, then clashed with the security forces called in to drive the settlers away. When security forces went to Yitzhar to arrest the "ringleaders" of the attack, they were confronted by a large crowd of settlers, who called them "Nazis." The police withdrew without making any arrests. The increased border police presence in the area, however, is designed to "monitor the activities of '
300 Jewish extremists'."
Anticipating possible violent clashes,
Arutz Sheva reports that thousands of police will
take their vacations earlier than normal, in order to ensure higher security levels during the withdrawal from Gaza.
The
Jerusalem Post reported Sunday that Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra feels that the police will successfully move the settlers the time comes,
with little violence. But if trouble does flare. Mr. Ezra says his forces will be ready for the worst. "I do not want to believe that one Jew will fire at another Jew," said Ezra. "But I have been warned that this may happen and it is very difficult to erase that warning from my mind.
Also...
•
Poll: Most Jewish Israelis favor emigration of Israeli Arabs (
Ha'aretz)
•
Cowardice and Desecration: The deeper Jewish meanings of 'Disengagement' (
Israeli Insider)
•
Anti-Semitism seems to be all the rage in England and the Continent (
Chicago Maroon)
•
Activists see deception in night arrivals at Walter Reed (
Stars and Stripes)
• Feedback appreciated. E-mail
Tom Regan
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