Divisive Debate

With discourse focused on civil war, Sharon, settlers use ear to own ends.

GIL SEDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jerusalem
n the eve of the Jewish New Year, Israel's
national discourse was dominated by
talk of potential civil war, but few of
those talking dared define the possible dimen-
sions of such a conflict.
- Would it mean confrontations between sol-
diers and civilians? Would it be limited to the
extreme margins of the settler movement? Would
it be confined to the settlements or spill over
into Israel proper? Could it really present a threat
to the very existence of the State of Israel, as
Knesset member Yossi Sand suggested?
Various groups on the right have sent a clear
warning to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that if
he moves ahead with plans to dismantle Jewish
settlements in Gaza next year, he will face the
danger of "tearing the nation apart."
Sharon, for his part, is showing no signs of
backing down, insisting he will push ahead with
the disengagement plan and will not be cowed
by threats of civil strife. For the time being, it
seems, both the extreme right and Sharon are
pointing to the danger of civil conflict to serve
their own causes.
Tens of thousands gathered at Jerusalem's Zion
Square on Sunday night, Sept. 12, to protest
against the disengagement, carrying posters call-
ing Sharon a "dictator." Although rally organizers
pulled down a sign labeling. Sharon a traitor, the
event was reminiscent of a similar rally nine years
ago against the Oslo process, with demonstrators
carrying signs of then-Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin dressed in a Nazi uniform. Two months
later, Rabin was murdered.
Israeli demonstrators in Jerusalem protest Prime Minister Ariel
Also highlighting the depth of the division,
Sharon's Gaza withdrawal plan.
dozens of well-known right wingers — among
them Bentzion Netanyahu, father of Finance
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the minis-
ter's brother, Iddo — signed a petition urging
National Religious Party, charged that Sharon and his
Israeli soldiers not to obey orders to evacuate settlers,
disengagement plan were "crazy" But despite such
insisting that such an evacuation would amount to
statements, NRP voted Monday to stay in Sharon's
"crimes against humanity"
coalition.
Also, at a meeting between settler leaders and
And, indeed, some settler leaders refrained from
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, the settlers warned
direct calls for confrontation, electing to play it safe.
that a civil confrontation could take place within
They spoke instead of the danger that others could
weeks. Under certain circumstances, they said, settlers
resort to violence.
would not hesitate to confront soldiers.
At the Jerusalem protest, there was obvious concern
Eliezer Hisdai, mayor of the West Bank settlement
that rhetoric could get out of hand. Speeches were
of Alfei Menashe, whose daughter is buried in the set-
toned downed and settler leaders urged their support-
tlement, said: "If anyone dared touch my daughter's
ers not to resort to violence and to avert a civil con-
grave, if someone tried to take her out of the grave, I
flict. "There will be no violence, no matter what,"
would shoot him, be it a soldier or the chief of staff."
Hisdai said, backing away from his bitter outburst at
Nissan Slomiansky, a Knesset member from the
the meeting with Mofaz just a few days earlier.

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And Zvulun Orley, the influential welfare
minister from the NRP, sharply condemned
anyone threatening civil conflict — though at
the same time he declared that Sharon was
wrong in putting all the blame on the settlers.
For now, Sharon is displaying no weakness.
At a meeting with Likud activists in Tel Aviv,
he declared: "We will go ahead with all our
plans. I don't believe it is possible that the pres-
ent situation can continue with such hatred
and incitement."
He was furious at cabinet ministers for not
standing by him publicly, although they had
voted in favor of the disengagement and cau-
tioned this week, for the first time in public,
against the danger of a civil war.
"Take the army and the security forces out of
this ugly game," Sharon warned those who sup-
port the settlers.
On Sept. 13, Netanyahu, widely seen as the
leading rival to Sharon within Likud, called for
a referendum on the prime minister's with-
drawal plan. Netanyahu said a plebiscite would
show that most Israelis back the plan, but a
Sharon confidant accused him of trying to hob-
ble the government while garnering popular
s support for a future bid to retake the premier-
ship.
Sharon has rejected a referendum as too
complicated to be implemented before the
2005 deadline he has set for evacuating Jewish
settlements from the Gaza Strip and part of the
West Bank.
The security services, for their part, are
indeed concerned that the threat of Jew-
against-Jew confrontations will become more
real. General Security Service sources have spo-
ken openly of the increased possibility that
zealots may try and hurt Sharon or attempt to
sabotage the mosques on Jerusalem's Temple
Mount.
There is genuine concern that Jewish
extremists will follow the example of Yigal
Amir, Rabin's assassin, whose single act of violence
triggered events that may have resulted in the collapse
of the Oslo process.
Israel's police inspector general, Moshe Karadi, has
already instructed his officers to take drastic measures
against any "show of incitement." If the verbal escala-
tion continues, the authorities are likely to issue
administrative arrest orders against suspects, bypassing
the courts.
Indeed, the administrative detention of right-wing
activist Noam Federman was extended Monday for an
additional three months. Federman had been suspect-
ed of links to a West Bank settler group that tried to
bomb an Arab school in Jerusalem. ❑