Jewish Revenge The cycle of murder between Palestinian and Israel keeps escalating. LARRY DERFNER ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT The only thing, Israelis would add to their Sub arus W o ul. d be a Dwyer price: I A Subaru is Israel's most popular, depend able car. And for good reason. It delivers comfort, control and economy ... at a reasonable price. That's why it also retains so much of its value at trade-in time. Navigate the streets of Southfield and the byways of Bloomfield Hills...and get a feel for why Subaru excels in the Holy Land and beyond. DWYER ANDSONS 'N.TOIL1110/SUE3ARU Maple Rd. West of Haggerty 624-0400 VISIT OUR NEW SHOWROOM OPEN SATURDAY When only the best will do. 00 O THE DETRO I T JEWIS H N - Choose from our prestigious collection of fine diamonds in a wide array of cuts and sizes. You'll be truly impressed by our tremendous selection of timeless classic styles and leading edge contemporary designs in 14KT, 18KT gold and platinum. Or, have our renowned resident designer, James Pierowich, craft an original design in your own personal style. Our customers know the place to buy diamond jewelry is Tapper's. For selection, value and expert service, the name you can trust is Tapper's. rf Diamonds and Fine Jewelry 26400 W. 12 Mile Road Southfield, MI 48034 • 357-5578 s Jewish settlers were being killed by Palestin- ian terrorists, their movement gained tre- mendous sympathy in Israel and rallied opposition against the peace plan that was to have gone into its initial stage. In recent days, however, the settlers have gone on the de- fensive, while finding them- selves with a burning sensation in their body that they can't or won't dislodge: the literally mur- derous hatred for all Palestini- ans that some of their brethren carry. The hatred came pouring out a week before the magic date of Dec. 13, a week that began with the killing of Mordechai Lapid and his son, Shalom. The dou- ble murder marked a culmina- tion of sorts in the daily attacks and frequent murders of set- tlers that had occurred for many weeks. Within the next week, four unarmed Palestinians were shot to death in the West Bank. After the first killing, a man and a 16-year-old boy from the set- tlement of Shilo were arrested as suspects. (The boy was re- leased from jail and placed un- der house arrest after a judge found the evidence against him weak.) No arrests have been made for the other three mur- ders, but police are reportedly focusing on suspects from set- tlements near Hebron. Political activists and rabbis from the territories condemned the killings. "A murderer is a murderer," said Yisrael Harel, chairman of the Council of Jew- ish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, the settler movement's main political body. Noting the vows of revenge made by Hamas and Islamic Ji- had, Mr. Harel added that the killers "have drawn us into a cy- cle of bloodshed, whose worst victims will be the Jews." But the few hundred settlers involved in the Kach movement and its "military arm," the iron- ically-named Committee for Road Safety, viewed the Pales- tinian deaths positively. Although the movement de- nied any link with the murders, its members drew suspicion on themselves. About an hour af- ter the killings of three Pales- tinian construction workers, several Israeli journalists re- ceived a message on their beep- ers: "Ronen reports that three Arabs from a village near He- bron were eliminated as they were driving, in revenge for the deaths in the Lapid family." "Ronen" is a code name used by the Road Safety Committee. Journalists had gotten similar messages from Ronen after pre- vious killings of Palestinians, but only after the deaths were announced on the radio. Since this last message came before the public knew about the mur- ders, it led to the suspicion that Kach members either pulled it off or knew who did. Heads of the settlers' council, while condemning the murders, refused to speak against Kach. Will more Jews fudge the difference between self-defense and murder? Settler council spokesman Aharon Domb said that if main- stream activists campaigned against Kach and its affiliates, "they will step up their actions just to show that they're still in operation." Settler leaders stress that such groups as Kach, the Road Safety Committee and Kahane Chai represent the tiniest fringe of the 130,000 Jews in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. But Baruch Marzel, Kach's chairman, thinks many Israelis on both sides of the Green Line agree. . Rabbi Yoel Bin Nun of the settlement of Ofra has lived through a more protracted pe- riod of Jewish vigilante killings in the West Bank. He was one of the Gush Emunim leaders who spoke out most forcefully against the Jewish terror un- derground during the early 1980s. He says there is an "abyss" between the main- stream settler movement and groups such as Kach, whose members he called "hooligans." Yet, he worries that, in the current atmosphere, more Jews will fudge the difference be- tween self-defense and murder. Although the Council of Jew- ish Communities of Judea, Samaria and Gaza called on po- lice to bring the murders to jus- tice, police have not asked the council to help tracking down the murderers.