RINA CASTELNVOVOINYT PICTURES

Carr cl
Away

40

Are West Bank protesters
becoming an obstacle
to peace?

Peace has brought a terrible uneasiness to Israel.

Early this week, the Israeli Cabinet and the Palestine Libera-

tion Organization signed a preliminary agreement to expand Pales-

tinian autonomy in the West Bank.

It is a move certain to change the face of the Middle East. In the

words of Environment Minister Yossi Sarid, "Although officially

there is not going to be a Palestinian state, as far as I can judge

the situation, it is a Palestinian state."

Already feeling the changes are Israel's settlers, who have con-

sistently protested any decision to give land to the Palestinians

and whose images have filled the pages of newspapers and tele-

visions throughout recent months.

Some label them radicals, an obstacle to peace. Others point

out that the settlers, a kaleidoscope of citizens comprising every-

one from the fervently religious to the completely secular, are sim-

ply fulfilling a directive set out by the early Zionists to settle the

Land of Israel.

