Clashes between settlers, Israeli police grow more violent
Conflict widens between 'true Jews' and the State of Israel; 'civil war' says one columnist.
Israeli police used nightsticks and water cannons Wednesday to evict hundreds of violently protesting settlers who tried to save nine illegally built homes near the settlement of Amona on the occupied West Bank. The
Los Angeles Times reports the confrontation, which lasted for hours, was
broadcast live on Israeli TV. It was the first major clash with militant settlers since Ehud Olmert took over as acting prime minister from the ailing Ariel Sharon.
Although the clash between the two groups mirrored those that happened last summer when settlers from 21 outposts in the Gaza Strip were evicted, this confrontation was far more violent.
Chanting rooftop protesters poured acid, gasoline and paint onto soldiers and police officers below and hurled sticks and grapefruit-sized rocks. Helmeted officers, aided by front-end loaders and ladders, stormed the homes' rooftops and were seen clubbing the holdouts in a show of force that differed drastically from the generally more gentle treatment shown settlers during the Gaza evacuations.
In a sign of the government's resolve, about 6,000 soldiers and police officers took part in the Amona evacuation, about five miles northeast of Ramallah. Police said that force was nearly matched by protesters, who numbered as many as 5,000.
The
Guardian reports that more than 100 people were injured, several seriously. Three
Israeli members of the Knesset (MKs) who were supporting the settlers were among those injured. Aryeh Eldad of the far-right National Union party, said, "The police would never treat Arabs so harshly."
The Jerusalem Post reports that Thursday morning Israeli President Moshe Katsav endorsed the demand of Labor MK Yuli Tamir for a
full investigation into the violence at Amona. Blaming both sides for the violence, President Katsav said, "All red lines were crossed at Amona; it was totally unnecessary."
The
Post also reports that Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh said that the youth who came to Amona on Thursday "are disengaging from the state;
the disengagement is theirs." Mr. Olmert told reporters, "We are seeing violence for the sake of violence, not ideology."
National Union MK Aryeh Eldad, who was also injured at Amona, issued a statement before he was injured: "Olmert is committing this atrocity because he feels that uprooting the settlers will help him in the election."
In a commentary on the
Ha'aretz website, Bradley Burston writes,"The time has come to choose your side.
The civil war has begun." He writes that these young new hard-line settlers see themselves as "New Genuine Jews." And they see the state as their enemy. "This is an army of Israelis who hate the Jews," he quotes a resident of Hebron resident saying last week.
You know the children's crusade in its many forms, the Vegan Hippie Carlebachites, the hardcore Confederacy of Kahane, the separatist State of Judea loyalists, the settlement-born Orange Diaper Babies of the Hilltop Youth. You know them by the way they relate to the rest of us. The quiet, knowing disdain that says that they know more than we, they care more than we, they suffer more, contribute more, matter more. They are saintly where we are profane, godly where we are lost. And, to the extent that we serve in this army or support this government, we are something else as well. The enemy.
"This is a war," said Asaf Baruchi of Beit El settlement, standing bandaged and in a sling [in front of] Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, the left half of his face striped in the blood of his own scalp. "It's a war between cultures. The left is trying to lliquidate religious Zionism, the only alternative."
Ha'aretz reports that a poll conducted Thursday after the clash showed that
the Israeli public is divided over who is responsible for the violence in Amona. Thirty-nine percent of respondents held settlers responsible, 19 percent blamed the police, and 31 percent said both sides were at fault. When asked to list the fundamental political reasons that led to the situation, more than 70 percent of those surveyed blamed past Israeli governments that over the years "encouraged settlers to settle in all areas."
Meanwhile,
The Daily Star of Lebanon reports that Egypt and Jordan Wednesday
joined Western nations in calling for Hamas to recognize Israel and to renounce violence. After a meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman urged Hamas to take three key steps.
"One, to stop the violence. Two, it should become a doctrine for them to be committed to all the agreements signed with Israel. Three, they have to recognize Israel," he told reporters. "If they don't do it, Abu Mazen [Abbas] will not ask them to form the government. Abu Mazen will [instead] form the government with other parties," said Suleiman, who attended the meeting and also met Abbas Tuesday.
In Amman, a Jordanian government spokesman said the country, which expelled Hamas leaders after it signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, would continue to its ban on talks with the group.
Also...
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Some US troops question Woodruff coverage (United Press International)
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Alienated Danish Muslims sought help from Arabs (Der Spiegel)
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Police apologize, drop charge against Sheehan (USA Today)
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Egypt predicts Iran will fill Palestinian cash gap (Reuters)
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Tom Regan
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