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The Radical Right Is Israel's
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124
Friday, December 12, 1986 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
DAVID FRIEDMAN
W
ashington — While
the Middle East
peace process ap-
pears to be on hold, the fu-
ture of the West Bank and
Gaza continues to be a major
topic of argument in both Is-
rael and the United States.
In the 'U.S. especially, even
in the Jewish community, the
assumption is that a solution
requires Israeli withdrawal
at least from part of the West
Bank.
But Elyakim Haetzni, a
member of the Kiryat Arba
Municipal Council and a
leader of the Judaea and
Samaria settlement move-
ment, is in the U.S. to stress
that if the Israeli government
would agree to withdrawal,
thousands of Jewish settlers
would refuse to leave.
"I will remain," he said at
the American Enterprise In-
stitute (AEI), a Washington-
based think tank.
Haetzni, a lawyer and
founder of Elisha (Citizens
for Judaea, Samaria, Gaza,
Jerusalem and Golan), said
any Israeli withdrawal would
be "illegal" and that any Is-
raeli leader who agreed to
such a step would be a
"traitor."
If the Israeli army were to
try to evict the Jewish
settlers there would be no
"bloodshed" between Jews.
Instead, he said, the settlers
would engage in "civil dis-
obedience."
Haetzni was joined at the
AEI by Ehud Sprinzak, a
senior lecturer in political
science at Hebrew University
who is currently a visiting
professor at American Uni-
versity.
Sprinzak said Haetzni re-
presents what he calls the
"radical right" in Israel. The
"bad news" is that this group
represents "a very significant
and influential stream in Is-
rael's political culture" with
the support of 20-25 percent
of Israelis, Sprinzak said.
He said the radical right
was the most "dynamic
camp" in Israeli politics. He
said they have a particular
appeal to the youth, who rec-
ognize that these people, un-
like others, believe what they
say.
In addition, Sprinzak said
that non-political Israelis
have been encouraged to
move to the West Bank by
the offer of inexpensive hous-
ing. Once there they become
quickly involved in support-
ing the views of the radical
right.
Sprinzak said the radical
right is made up of five ele-
ments. The first and most
important is Gush Emunim,
which spearheaded the set-
tlement movement. The sec-
ond is the Tehiya Party,
which enjoys the support of
seven-eight percent of Is-
Israel's flag hangs ouer the Jewish settlement in the heart of
Hebron.
raelis, according to Sprinzak.
Next comes Rabbi Meir
Kahane's Kach group, he
said. The fourth group are
"extreme rabbis and intellec-
tuals" who speak like Gush
Emunim but think like
Kahane, Sprinzak said.
He said the final group is
made up of Trade and Indus-
try Minister Ariel Sharon
and his followers in Likud.
He said they remain in Likud
in hopes that Sharon can be-
come prime minister.
Sprinzak said the radical
right has grown since 1977
and the signing of the Camp
David Accords, which they
opposed. He attributed this to
the lack of a Likud leader
who has the personal
authority to make interna-
tional agreements and then
tell those opposed, "You are
not going to tell me how to
defend Israel."
Haetzni did not directly
reply to Sprinzak's analysis,
although he called the Camp
David agreements a "sellout."
But he made a strong de-
fense of the Jewish right to
live in Judaea and Samaria.
"It is difficult to understand
the difference between Jaffa
and Hebron or if you like,
Ramle and Ramallah," he
said. He noted that Israel
captured Ramle and Jaffa in
1948 and Hebron and Ramal-
lah in 1967.
He said that as Israel did
when East Jerusalem was
liberated in the Six Day War,
"we should have made it
clear in '67 that Judaea and
Samaria are the real goal of
our return to the Land of Is-
rael. This is the place where
the Bible took place."
"Do we live in the time of
the Bible or do we live to-
day?" Sprinzak responded. He
said that he and many other
Israelis do not want to live
like the rest of the Middle
East, but in a democracy,
something which he
suggested the radical right
does not want.
Haetzni said that while he
favors annexing Judaea and
Samaria, he would not do so
until a quarter of a million
Jews live there. About 70,000
Jews do now. Then he said he
would favor autonomy for the
Palestinians living there. He -\/
said the more Jews in the
area "the less anxiety, the
less nervous" the Jewish
settlers will be and the more '\
self-government the Palesti-
nians could have.
But Sprinzak said that
Jews and Arabs living side-
by-side does not guarantee
friendship. He noted that in
the West Bank there is
Jewish vigilantism and
Jewish terrorism for the first
time in 40 years.
Asked if Arabs on the West
Bank under his plan would
be allowed to vote for the )
Knesset, Haetzni said he ‘I
would agree to that when
Jews could vote in Jordan.
He noted that Jordan allows
no Jews and no one chal-
lenges this.
He gave a long legal argu-
ment for Israel's right to the
West Bank and Gaza. He
noted that both the Balfour
Declaration and the British
Mandate listed Palestine as
what is now Israel, the West
Bank and Jordan. But Brit-
ain broke off Eastern Pales- v I
tine in 1922 to give to King
Abdullah and in the 1939
White Paper forbade any
Jewish settlement in Judaea
and Samaria as well as im-
migration. He said the new
Israeli government dissolved
the White Paper, which
meant that settlement in the
West Bank was no longer il-
legal.
Haetzni
addition,
In
stressed that after conquering
the West Bank in 1948, Ab-
dullah passed a new law that
the Arabs on both sides of the
Jordan are "one people." Not
ing that the majority of Jor-
danians are Palestinians,
Haetzni said that there is al-
ready a Palestinian state.
He said that fear of what
would happen if Jordan had
added to it the 1.3 million _/
Palestinians in the West
Bank and Gaza is one of the
reasons that King Hussein
could not answer the invita-
tion to negotiations.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
, _/