World EXTREMISTS Internal Foe Radical Jewish settlers are turning against Israel. Dina Kraft Jewish Telegraphic Agency Yitzhar, West Bank T he Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in this Jewish settlement looks more like a well-fortified auto repair shop than a house of learning. Located in an industrial neighborhood, the yeshivah has a drab aluminum exte- rior and tin roof, surrounded by a metal gate. A small guard house sits out front. The teenage boys wearing oversized, thick-knit kipot and their teachers have become the face of radical Jewish nation- alism in Israel. They are a key part of a movement of settler youth, rabbis, leaders and sup- porters determined to hold onto the West Bank at any cost. Radical settlers rampage against Palestinians and Israeli soldiers, sometimes hiding their faces behind black Yisrael Ariel stands above the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. ski masks or scarves. Confident they are God's will," said Moshe Fumberg, 16, who movement, and their precise number is following the word of God, they call for a studies at a yeshivah at an illegal outpost unknown. But vigilante violence against Torah-based theocracy that they say will near Yitzhar. Palestinians and, increasingly, against one day triumph over the State of Israel. Fumberg's friends boast they represent Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, a teacher at Od Yosef Israeli security forces, have fueled debate a new, bolder generation of Jewish settlers inside Israel about the settler movement Chai, says Israel has lost its way with its ready to use violence to keep West Bank as a whole and about the threat radi- willingness to cede parts of the Land of Jews in their homes. cal settlers pose to the state — in part Israel, the Jews' biblical birthright. "We want them to be afraid of us because the mainstream settler leadership Ariel is a disciple of the St. Louis-born because maybe then there won't be any has not come out forcefully against them. head of the yeshivah, Rabbi Yitzhak , ' one of Fumberg's more evacuations' Roy Sharon, a journalist for Israel's Ginzburg. Considered a spiritual heir to friends said of Israeli security forces who covers the settlers, says Ma'ariv daily the late Meir Kahane, Ginzburg gained charged with evacuating illegal outposts. the division within the settler movement notoriety — and some jail time — in Geographically isolated, the youths about how to deal with the radicals is 1994 after penning an article praising consume alternative media, including not about principle — all believe in the Baruch Goldstein's killing of 29 Muslim newspapers, Web sites, radio stations and unalienable right of settling the Land of worshipers in Hebron. synagogue pamphlets, that feed into their Israel — but about practice: how exactly Ginzburg preaches a messianic brand sense of alienation and betrayal. In their to achieve that aim. of Judaism that views Jews as superior "The Yesha Council" — the main settler synagogues, rabbis rail against cooperat- beings and violent revenge attacks on ing with a government that supports West umbrella body — "thinks that it is not the Arabs as justified by the Torah. He is one Bank withdrawals. right time to build and settle on all of the of a small group of rabbis who provides "If the State of Israel is criminal and a Land of Israel, but the radicals think there the theological and ideological underpin- sinner, then the role of true believers is is no such thing as the 'right' timing and nings for radical settlers. to correct its ways',' explains Motti Inbari, there is no need to take into account poli- The foot soldiers in the movement are author of the upcoming book Jewish youths who grow up or study in places like tics and policies," Sharon said. Fundamentalism and the Temple Mount. Dror Etkes, who works for an Israeli Yitzhar. Some go on to seize and establish "This is pushing people into radicalization illegal outposts on lone West Bank hilltops. group called Yesh Din that promotes and into the idea of a post-Zionist state." Palestinian rights in the West Bank, esti- Like its predecessors, Benjamin Over the last year and a half, radical set- Netanyahu's government has taken limited mated that there are up to 1,000 active tlers have defaced Muslim tombstones, set radicals. Posters hung in recent days at steps to dismantle the illegal outposts fire to Palestinian olive groves, assaulted — notably in the weeks since Netanyahu's bus stops across the West Bank calling on Palestinians, slashed tires of Israel supporters to "defend" against evacuation meeting with President Obama in May Defense Forces vehicles and thrown acid of West Bank outposts say there are 2,000 — but the youths return almost as soon at Israeli soldiers. It's all part of a strategy people living in 26 outposts. as they are forcibly evacuated. "I feel the state has separated itself from the radicals call"price tag': which aims Radicals often are dismissed as rogue, to greet every move by the government me and is no longer going according to fringe elements by the mainstream settler A20 July 16 •2009 against illegal settlements with mayhem and violence. Radical youth, encouraged by a small number of veteran settler lead- ers, are at the forefront of this effort. Via text messages and with special phone lists, they spread plans for specific activities. Sometimes, the message is as simple as three words: "Price tag now." Settler violence quickly follows. There is no apparent centralized leadership in the radical settler move- ment, which by its nature is somewhat anarchic. Among its most outspoken proponents, however, are figures such as Daniella Weiss, the former head of the Kedumim settlement, Hebron's Baruch Marzel and Nadia Matar, head of Women in Green. Both Matar and Weiss head groups that signed onto the posters calling on settlers to defend the outposts. Matar, who says she is against violence, understands why the youth have decided to "fight back." "They have seen the adults capitulate — their rabbis and teachers and parents who tell them to turn the other cheek," she said. "There is rebellion of youth who are sick and tired of seeing the adults caving in and letting the government trample us. The more adults show real leadership and stick to our principles, the less they will feel a need to rebel." E This is the third and final part of a Jewish Telegraphic Agency series.