Info 25 from Jonatan Peled

["Jonatan Peled" <peled_j at maabarot.org.il>]

Info 25

From the burning Middle East....

Dear Friends !

The intensive diplomatic activity around cease fire is is whirling all
around. They speak above all to stop every violence. This is O.K. but the
other side of this equation, the demand to stop building in the Israeli
settlements spread all over the Palestinian territories is heard much less.
The sad point is, that in the present situation even Israeli acception to
"freeze" building in these settlements has very little influence on the
poisoned Palestinian Israei relationships. The problem of the Jewish
settlements in Palestinian territories is not in Jewish presence there. The
problem is the ideology, the concept - and the personality of great part of
the settlers. These settlements, that are spread all over the West Bank and
in some strategic locations in the Gaza Strip are the realization of a
belief, that all the territory between the Jordan river and the
Mediterranean see belongs to the Jewish people, and they are the only and
exclusive possessors of it.
 The land for building the settlements was expropriated from Palestinian
inhabitants, or accomplished on "State Property", that means every peace of
land that is not a proven private property of any Palestinian. These lands
of "State property" are used exclusively to build Israeli Jewish
settlements and paved roads that connect them to Israel .
The behaviour of the settlers can be characterised by incredible arrogance
and mastership excercising over the Palestinians. They don't conceive
themselves as inhabitants, but rather as masters of these territories.
Many times, when I hear or read about they behaviour, when I see what has
been done by these people all over the West Bank, I feel that when talking
about the "Land" in almost erotic terms, they don't even  distinguish
between love and rape...
The way that these settlers look at the Palestinians, reminds me how
American white settlers in the "wild west" looked at the Indians. But we
are not America and the Palestinians are not Indians. Unfortunately the
arrogance, the racism, the mastership and above all denial of the local
peoples elementary rights are the same.

This "Info" discusses about the issue of settlers and settlements. You can
find here two short articles and link to a collection of more articles,
published in Israeli newspapers.

More Israeli articles about this subject on the website:
http://friendvill2.homestead.com/ArchiveSettlements.html

Important announce:  if anybody gets this mail by mistake and wants to be
removed from the list of addressees, his or her request will be responded
immediately. As in some cases people get the mail indirectly, through
transfering from another mail box,  addressee can be removed from the list
only if I get the original e-mail address.


                                                        Jonatan Peled

                                              Friendship Village



Israel's march of the folly

By Doron Rosenblummailto:rosenblum at haaretz.co.ilHaaretz 10 June 2001


Curators who, in years to come, want to illustrate Israel's march of folly
since the Six Day War will surely put together a collection of pictures of
settlers waving menacing fingers at Israel's prime ministers and army
soldiers over the last 30 years. This extensive exhibition, which may well
be dubbed "the finger of God", will start with the black-and-white photos
of settlers threatening the young Shimon Peres in the early days of
Sebastia, and go all the way through to the foreboding fingers lashed at
Ariel Sharon in Karnei Shomron, 2001. The overwhelmed visitor will follow
the gradual process in which Israel's agenda was hijacked, coerced and
forced, albeit willingly at times, by an overbearing fanatic minority.

The settlers have come a long way since their humble request to hold the
Passover dinner in Hebron. Today they are demanding in no uncertain terms
that Israel go to war. All the masks have been dropped: The settlers'
arrogance and their aspirations to set the national agenda reflect an
unabashed air of superiority. First they established "irreversible facts"
on the ground, then they fought tooth and nail (if not with more ballistic
measures) against the peace efforts, and now they are blatantly inciting
for war, and even purport to dictate its timing and scope.

"Fight!" they unequivocally order the defense minister. "Fools, how long
will it take before you go to war?!" a raving settler says, waving a finger
at Sharon, with her friends giving orders to "every commander around".

We have already gotten used to hearing on TV that "the settlers have given
the military an ultimatum to start uprooting trees by nightfall." The army
obeys - but it's never enough for the insatiable appetite of the settlers.

"Go, Bentzur, go!", one of the settlers' leaders said last week, quoting
the famous order given by Defense Minister Motta Gur to his driver during
the takeover of Jerusalem in 1967. It is good to know that the anachronism
of the settlers has moved on a few years: After years of being stuck in
pre-state folklore, they have finally progressed to only 30 years ago. But
where is it exactly that they want Bentzur to go? Oh, what difference does
it make, as long as there is some kind of motion. What should the goals of
the war be? The momentum people couldn't care less, as long as there is a
war. Anything goes, as long as momentum is maintained: of the settlement
process, of the occupation, of war, of time going round and round in
circles.

"The settlers' patience is coming to an end," we are told time and time
again, followed by the ultimate threat of militia action. But even now
these people treat the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli government as
nothing but a subordinate militia, so why not make official once and for
all the dissonance between the settlers and any concept of law and order?
That may not be such a bad idea.



Rioting settlers rampage in Arab villages

Ha'aretz Correspondents
By Amos Harel and Nadav Shragai 7n June 2001

Dozens of angry settlers rioted through two Palestinian villages yesterday,
setting fire to businesses and fields, breaking windows and throwing stones
at the residents. Nine Palestinians and a border policeman were injured.

The rampage through the West Bank towns of Luban a-Sharkiya and A-Sawiya
were in response to a terror attack that seriously injured a five-month-old
baby Tuesday night. Yehuda Shoham's skull was fractured when Palestinians
pelted his parents' car with rocks near Luban, and he is currently in
critical condition at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.

The riot began as a protest march by some 200 residents of Shiloh, where
the Shoham family lives, along the main Ramallah-Nablus road yesterday
morning. The IDF had approved the march. Then, however, a few dozen
settlers broke off from the main body and entered the villages, where they
torched property ranging from greenhouses to schoolrooms. Palestinians
gathered to confront the rioters and the two groups began throwing rocks.

A large force of soldiers and border policemen arrived to quell the riots,
but IDF officers said they did not use force against the settlers, and
Palestinians said nine villagers were injured before order was restored. A
border policeman was also injured.

The B'tselem organization charged that soldiers and police kept Palestinian
ambulances from entering the villages and even shot at the villagers. It
said at least one Palestinian was wounded by a blow to the head from a
soldier's rifle.

Police arrested three settlers on the spot, including one who fired in the
air, and police sources said additional arrests will follow. Policemen
captured the entire riot on video, the sources said, and the footage will
be used to identify the perpetrators and prepare indictments against them.

Residents of Shiloh afterward defined rioting as a necessary act of
protest. "People live here, and it is inconceivable that we should be left
defenseless," said Rabbi Michael Brom. "The government and the army are
responsible for providing us with minimal, basic protection."

Rioting, added another resident, who asked to remain anonymous, is not the
norm in Shiloh, "so if we've reached this point, we've apparently reached
the end of our rope, and the one who should draw conclusions from what
happened is the government, which... has turned restraint into an ideology.
The ones who are paying the price for the Sharon-Peres government's public
relations victory are the children in the discotheques and the babies on
the roads."

In another incident, some 20 settlers from Hebron clashed with Palestinians
while trying to stop Palestinian construction in the marketplace. Police
and soldiers separated the sides, and no one was injured.

On the Palestinian side yesterday was the quietest day since Yasser Arafat
announced a cease-fire on Saturday, with only two shooting incidents and
one grenade attack by evening.