Jewish Response

Jewish Settlers Despair Before Election

2006-03-30T23:39:00.000-08:00

SHILO, West Bank - Jewish settlers are looking to Israel's March 28 election with growing despair. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the front-runner, says he wants to give up large areas of the West Bank and uproot most settlements there, and the settlers do not have the political clout to stop him.

Still disheartened after last year's Gaza pullout, settlers are torn over what to do. Opinions run from collecting compensation and leaving willingly to negotiating with the government or even resisting with force.

Giving up more land is "surrendering to terror" and will bring Hamas militants, who won Jan. 25 legislative elections, "to our doorsteps," said Bentzi Lieberman, head of the settlers' council.

"We will do everything we can to stop it," he added.

The 250,000 Israelis living in 120 West Bank settlements make up only 3.5 percent of Israel's population but for years wielded disproportionate political influence, bolstered by powerful allies in parliament.

That began to change last summer, when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, their longtime patron, withdrew from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, uprooting 25 settlements.

Many settlers acknowledge that public opinion has shifted.

"We understand that what we think should be the Israeli dream is no longer shared by the entire society," said another settler leader, Shaul Goldstein.

Sharon said separating the settlers from Palestinians would improve security and help ensure Israel's future as a democracy with a Jewish majority. It was the first time Israel removed settlements built on land captured in the 1967 Mideast War and claimed by the Palestinians for their state.

Settlers said they were mistreated at the time, and a new government report backs the claim. The state comptroller said poor planning and handling of the evacuees caused unnecessary suffering, leaving thousands of settlers in temporary quarters months after the pullout.

Olmert, who has been running the Israeli government since Sharon's massive stroke Jan. 4, appears even more willing to take on the settlers. Last month, Israeli troops demolished nine homes in the illegal West Bank outpost of Amona, in what became the most violent clash ever between settlers and the security forces.

The incident has shaken the settlers.

"They're trying to demonize us. They're trying to demoralize us," said Batya Medad, a New York native who settled in Shilo nearly 25 years ago.

Nestled on a wind-swept ridge in the northern West Bank, the community of 250 families is a strong candidate for removal under Olmert's plan.

Polls predict Olmert's Kadima Party will win about 38 seats in the 120-seat parliament, putting it in a strong position to lead a coalition with moderate parties.

The settlers are in "deep, deep trouble," said Reuven Hazan, a political scientist at Hebrew University. "Their future is to make a very big decision whether to fight or pack up nicely."

Goldstein said the settlers will not go against public opinion if Olmert wins a clear mandate. If Olmert goes forward with his plan, settlers will try to rally public opposition but also work with the government.

"They will try to fight, scream and shout, and then negotiate," he said.

Olmert scored a public relations coup recently when Yoel Bin-Nun, an influential settler rabbi, announced his support for Kadima. Bin-Nun said he appreciated Olmert's offer to consult with settlers as he determines the border.

"If we say all or nothing, we could end up with nothing," Bin-Nun said.

However, Bin-Nun said he believes he is in the minority among settlers. He said many people have told his friends and students they are upset with him, though he has not been directly confronted.

Avshalom Vilan, a lawmaker from the dovish Yahad Party, has launched a program promising a home in Israel to anyone living in a settlement outside Israel's West Bank separation barrier. Under Olmert's plan, the barrier is to be the basis of the final border.

Vilan said his group, One House, has been contacted by about 1,000 people since it began work last year. He estimates that half of the roughly 80,000 people living beyond the barrier would move out willfully.

"They know they don't have any future," he said.

The other half, however, are likely to resist in one way or another, he said. Most resistance likely would be passive, as was the case in Gaza.

But given the religious significance of the land, violence is a possibility.

"If Olmert decides to uproot the settlements, that is a violent act," said Yair Shalev, a real-estate developer in Shilo. "If Olmert is going to be violent, some people are not going to be the battered wife. They might fight back."

During the Gaza withdrawal, and more recently in Hebron and Amona in the West Bank, small numbers of protesters threw skin-burning chemicals, eggs, bricks and other debris at security forces.

Government inquiries have noted in the past that militants among the settlers have acted with impunity, both against the Palestinians and against Israeli security forces.

Beyond the violence, Israeli critics of the settlers have long complained that the settlers have led the nation astray for decades and antagonized the international community. Israeli governments have invested billions of dollars in settlement construction, including generous subsidies for settlers.

The settlers still believe they are the vanguard of Zionism. They have transformed barren West Bank hilltops into bustling communities, fulfilling what they believed was God's command to settle the biblical Land of Israel.

Shilo resident David Rubin, a U.S.-born Orthodox Jew who survived a roadside shooting that wounded his 3-year-old son, said the attack only steeled his resolve to remain.

"Olmert is going against his heritage and right to be here," he said. "Hopefully the rest of the country will wake up in time."

By Joseph Federman,
Associated Press Writer

Technorati : israel settlers elections

NFC-Poll

2006-02-07T04:57:00.000-08:00

NFC-Poll
Originally uploaded by yigal.benari.

Events at Amona:
Question asked: How did the police behave?

Results:

13.82% Police Responded Properly
83.35% Police Behaved Violently
2.83% Police Exhibited Restraint

Ynet Poll

2006-02-07T04:55:00.000-08:00

Ynet-Poll
Originally uploaded by yigal.benari.

The question asked was:

What do you feel about the "Settlers" in the aftermath of Amona?

The results:

67% Positive
28% Very Angry
5% : Indifferent

Graphic Evidence

2006-02-06T12:38:00.000-08:00

We've been collecting as much of the photographic evidence as we can in one location. Please feel free to visit the Flickr.com site to view the exhibits collected so far.

Let Them Know What You think!

2006-02-05T09:27:00.000-08:00

If you feel that the deliberate systematic use of violence against youth and protesters is both a travesty of "Law & Order" and a danger to the future of a democratic Israel - let your voice be heard!

Write whatever you feel needs to be said and mail it off to the members of the 'Kadima' Party. (We'd appreciate it if you'd carbon copy us at Jewish.Response@gmail.com). Here are their email addresses:

Kadima Party

Ehud Olmart eulmert@knesset.gov.il
Tzippi Livni zlivni@knesset.gov.il
Meir Shitreet mshitrit@knesset.gov.il
Chaim Ramon ChaimR@knesset.gov.il
Shimeon Peres ShimonP@knesset.gov.il
Avi Dicter info@kadimasharon.co.il
Marina Solodokin msolodkin@kadimasharon.co.il
Shaol Mofaz smofaz@kadimasharon.co.il
Tzachi HaNegbi Thanegbi@kadimasharon.co.il

Shas Party

David Azulai dazulay@knesset.gov.il
Eliyahu (Eli) Yishai eyishay@knesset.gov.il

One Jew's Response

2006-02-05T05:38:00.000-08:00

If you agree with what is written below,
please forward the email as far and wide as possible.

Dear Friends, Family and Fellow Jews,

With a broken heart and in desperation, we in Israel are turning to you, our fellow Jews, to ask for your help and your support in our fight against the continuing violence, brutality and undemocratic police state tactics being used against those who protest government policy.

Things have come to point where civil war is threatened.
You must help us prevent that!!

At the end of this letter you will find a link to pictures and film clips from the recent destruction and expulsion from Amona, a small community in the Shomron. These pictures, which depict shocking brutality against Jewish youth in Amona should shock and upset you.

Although Israel claims to be the only democracy in the middle east, we in Israel are unable to effectively protest against our government policies, as the government turns a deaf ear to those who criticize its policies and actions, and brands anyone who is against government policy as an outlaw or anarchist who may be treated with brutality and who's civil rights may be abused.

In most cases, the Israeli media and court systems take a common stand in support of govt actions and abuses against those dissenting from govt. policy.

Mass demonstrations against government policy such as those seen in the USA by civil rights activists fifty years ago, by opponents of the Vietnam War or the "Million Man March" are ignored in Israel, whereas police brutality reminiscent of that used against protesters at Kent State is becoming more commonplace.

House arrests, long term administrative detentions without charges being filed, use of the Israeli military to put down demonstration in pre 1967 Israel, detention of minors aged 13-16 for weeks and months without charges being filed, physically stopping busses and arresting their drivers as they are on the way to attend legal demonstrations, threats of removing young children from the legal custody of their parents, threats to not draft to the IDF teenagers that take part in demonstrations thereby ruining their lives. Etc, etc. The list of civil rights abuses goes on and on.

What have things come to in Israel?
Have we become a third world country?
Where are we going?
Does the govt. want civil war?
And so we need your help.

What can you do?

We ask you to send a strong message to the president and prime minister of Israel in the following ways:
We ask that first and foremost, you stop donating money to any cause officially affiliated with the Israeli government.
We ask you not to purchase Israeli bonds. There are many other ways to support humanitarian efforts and strengthen the state of Israel. You can donate directly to hospitals, Hatzoloh volunteer medical teams, the Magen David Adom, Alut-Israeli society for Autistic Children, youth programs, universities, etc. In this way you will support the organizations which help the people directly, without supporting the government and its violent policies. We realize this is a harsh action, but feel we have no choice.

We also ask that in order to influence future actions of the government of Israel, you state specifically in your synagogue, temple or local Zionist organization that as a result of the governments de-legitimatizing and brutalizing large sectors of the population, you can no longer donate to any official Israeli appeal which raises money for the government or any of its official organizations such as the JNF or Israeli bonds. Let the Rabbi's and community leaders pass this message on to Mr. Katzav and Mr. Olmert.

We ask that you write to the Israeli President, Mr. Moshe Katsav, and express your shock and outrage at the government's brutality and trampling of civil rights in Israel, and to ask him to initiate an official board of inquiry into the government's behavior.

The fax number of the President's office is: 972-2-563-1926

We ask that you write your Congressman or other political representatives to complain of the Israeli government's anti-democratic policies, and to request that they send a strong message to the Israeli government that these anti-democratic policies will not be tolerated.

We hope that in this way you will be sending a clear and powerful message to the president and prime minister of Israel that civil rights abuses and police brutality against men, woman and children, no matter what their political views and affiliations, will no longer be tolerated by long standing friends and supporters of Israel in the Diaspora.

Just to be clear. I condemn the use of violence against our police and security forces. Anyone caught in such an act should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Thank you for your support. With love of Israel,
Josh Adler
Efrat, Israel

The Highest Respect for the Law

2006-02-05T05:18:00.000-08:00

I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.

Martin Luther King Jr.(1929 - 1968)

Photographs of Amona & Events of Feb 1st, 2006

2006-02-05T04:50:00.000-08:00

If you have photographs (public doman, not copyrighted please!) of either Amona or the events leading up to and including what occured on February 1st, 2006 the 3rd of Shevat 5766, please send me a note to Yigal.BenAri@gmail.com. I have set up a group on Flickr.com called "Jewish Response". Understandabily it is an "Invitation Only" group, but please drop a line and ask to join. The more of us that collect and contribture material, the more effective this initiative will be.

Yigal Ben-Ari

Response to Amona

2006-02-05T04:02:00.000-08:00

Since Wednesday afternoon, as I received telephone and SMS reports on the unfolding of events at Amona, I have pondered what should be done. To sit back and click our tongues and decry this terrible turn of events would be at best lame and at worst hypocritical.

Reading the article posted by Yoel Ben-Avraham, and later the public letter issued by Josh Adler I began to feel that perhaps there was one initiative that might get the attention of Israel's elites without requiring the application of violence or even civil disobedience. Please read through the posts we've published here on Jewish.Response and let us know what you think!

Yigal Ben-Ari
JewishResponse@gmail.com