'World

The Violent Right

Radical Israeli settlers break a taboo: violence against Jews.

Dina Kraft
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jerusalem

M

arking the close of the Fast
of Gedaliah, a mournful day
that commemorates the bibli-
cal-era political assassination of a Jew by
another Jew, some 200 religious and secu-
lar Israelis assembled on Oct. 2 outside
the Jerusalem home of Professor Ze'ev
Sternhell with a blunt message: No More
Gedaliahs.
On Sept. 25, the Hebrew University
professor, Holocaust survivor, Israel Prize
winner and outspoken peace activist was
the target of a pipe bomb attack suspected
to have been carried out by right-wing
Jewish extremists.
"Our society has a problem and we
must confront it," Sternhell said.
The attack on Sternhell appears to be
part of a violent shift in strategy among
the more radical elements of the Jewish
settler movement. Jewish assaults on
both Palestinians and Israeli soldiers in
the West Bank have been on the rise. The
incidents often seem more like planned
operations than spontaneous actions,
experts say.
The settlers seem to be sending a mes-
sage to Israeli authorities: Any operation
against the settlers — specifically, any
attempted evacuation of illegal outposts
in the West Bank — will elicit a new type
of response that is harsh and difficult to
control.
"The army and the government need to
know that every stone thrown at us, any
action against our settlements, will not be
met with as if we are suckers;' said Avri
Ran, a prominent figure among the more
hard-core settlers. "There is a price to be
paid for attacks on Jews?'
The strategy shift can be traced to the
lessons settlers learned in the Gaza Strip
in 2005, when opponents of the withdraw-
al and residents of Gaza's Jewish settle-
ment bloc mostly played by the rules. They
mostly practiced passive disobedience as
Israeli authorities came to remove them.
But the failure to thwart Israel's
withdrawal from Gaza, as well as the
government's response, left them angry
and disillusioned, particularly the younger
generation.
Their sense of betrayal, coupled with a

view of the Jerusalem government as cor-
rupt, has fueled an anti-authority senti-
ment. This has been most apparent among
the so-called hilltop youth — radical
young settlers who establish and occupy
illegal outposts atop hills in the West Bank
and refuse to leave.
The price radical settlers have sought
to impose on those seeking to evict them
includes setting fire to Palestinian fields
and orchards, blocking ro ds and even
fighting with Israeli soldiers.
Settlers unleased a dog on one officer;
another soldier had his arm broken in
recent confrontations. Most dramatically,
settlers attacked a Palestinian village in
an incident Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
described as a pogrom.
The attack, in the West Bank village of
Asira al Qibliya, followed the infiltration
of a Palestinian into the nearby settlement Though most West Bank settlers are law abiding, some have resorted to violent tac-
tics to avoid evacuations.
of Yitzhar, in the northern West Bank,
where an empty house was set on fire and
a 9-year-old Jewish boy was stabbed. In
aggressive and painful response.
critics are trying to make the settler com-
response, Yitzhar residents tore through
"This is the irony of history, that the
munity look bad.
the Arab village, throwing rocks and
approach of the Israeli government against
"It needs to be known that last year the
opening fire, leaving several Palestinians
the Palestinians was adopted by the set-
Palestinians damaged more fields of Jews
wounded.
tlers to fight democracy:' Be'er said.
than the other way around;' said Dani
Using unusually strong language,
Thus, even if a single trailer is threat-
Dayan of the Yesha Council.
Olmert responded to the recent wave of
ened with removal from a settlement, "hell
"Let there be no misunderstanding: Any
violence, including the attack on Sternhell, will be raised;' Be'er said. That may mean
attack on Jewish or Arab property should
at a Cabinet meeting.
fighting against the Israeli army — until
be condemned, but there is an organized
"An evil wind of extremism, of hatred,
now considered taboo — or fanning out
effort to delegitimize the residents of
of malice, of violence, of running amok,
to Palestinian villages to start distur-
Judea and Samaria," he said, using the bib-
of breaking the law, of contempt for the
bances and thereby overwhelm army and
lical names for the West Bank.
institutions of the state is blowing through police personnel.
Meanwhile, within the mainstream
certain sections of the Israeli public and
"In the past, only a few dozen individu-
settler movement are deep divisions over
threatens Israeli democracy:' he said.
als were implicated" in such behavior, Maj. what direction to take. A leaflet recently
The settlers' actions also threaten
Gen. Gadi Shadmi, the head of the Israel
distributed in some settlements and
the Israeli government's ability to carry
Defense Forces' Central Command, told
signed by two prominent settler lead-
out pledges that are part of the Israeli-
Israel's daily Ha'aretz in a recent interview. ers calls on the public to join in the fight
Palestinian peace process, including com-
While most of the estimated 250,000
against outpost evacuations by dispersing
mitments made to the United States and
Israeli Jews living in the West Bank are .
to exhaust security forces. The leaflet sug-
the international community to freeze
law abiding, Shadmi said, the ranks of the gests blocking roads and building more
settlement building and remove illegal
radicals are growing.
outposts, and exhorts youths to take hikes
outposts from the West Bank.
"Today we are talking about several
in "unconventional areas" — interpreted
Yizhar Be'er, the executive director of
hundred people — a very significant
to mean near Palestinian villages.
Keshev, an organization that researches
change he said.
Rabbi Yuval Sherlow, considered a mod-
ideological violence in Israel, described
"These people are conspiring against
erate leader in the religious Zionist camp
the recent events as a Jewish intifada,
the Palestinians and against security forc- of which the settlers are a key part, said
using the Arabic word for uprising. He
es:' he added, making the army's job more members of the community's leadership
said it borrows directly from the Israeli
difficult. Shadmi charged that some seg-
must offer support to those who reject
government's own playbook for quashing
ments of the settlers' leadership, including violent confrontation:
the second Palestinian intifada.
rabbis, are giving the movement's radical
"There is a large periphery of people,
Specifically, fringe settlers are employ-
elements either tacit or outright support.
and we need to give them ideological and
ing the deterrent doctrine sometimes used
While acknowleging the rise in violent
religious backing so they don't feel like
by Israel known as the "price tag": Every
tactics, the head of the council that repre-
they are doing something wrong in obey-
aggressive act will be met by an even more sents Jewish settlers in the West Bank said ing the law and fighting violence?' ❑

a

October 16 02008

A29