 |
 |
 |
|
|
Soldiers remove settlers from an unauthorized settlement outpost.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| By israelinsider staff September 10, 2004 |
|
| |
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was reportedly astonished by the remarks of heads of the Yesha Settlement Council concerning the planned expulsion of Jews from Gaza and northern Samaria. "In several weeks we will be in a situation in which we will expel IDF soldiers from our communities," settler leader Ze'ev Hever ("Zambish") told Mofaz, according to a report by Ben Kaspit in Maariv.
Alfei-Menashe Council Eliezer Hasdai, whose daughter was killed in a terror attack and buried in Samaria, warned: "If anyone dares to touch my daughter's grave, if anyone tries to pull her out of her grave, whether a soldier or the chief of staff, I will shoot him."
"We have no doubt," the leaders told Mofaz, "that at this rate, a civil war will erupt. Within a year we will not be one nation. We will lose control of the situation. Everything will go up in flames."
The settlement leaders slammed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in terms of unprecedented harshness. "He is a dictator, a tyrant, he does whatever he wants. He was chosen because he said he wouldn't carry out unilateral steps, and now he uses it. We used to be his dear sons, his pioneers. Now he doesn't see or hear us."
The settlement leaders complained that they are being shut out of the decision-making process. According to them, "the entire system ignores us, no one want to talk to us." They demanded immediate elections, saying that Sharon "should go to the nation, return the decision to the people, have elections on the basis of the disengagement issue and then we will see what the results are."
They agreed to be bound by the results of the electoral process. Settlement leader Shaul Goldstein asked Hasdai: "and if we lose in the elections, will you be prepared to accept the relocation of your daughter's grave?" Hasdai responded: "Yes. I will tear my clothes in mourning a second time and mourn again."
Mofaz, who appeared to be taken aback by the remarks made by the settlers, reportedly responded with a plea "to leave the IDF out of this. You yourselves know that you won't be able to expel soldiers from your communities, and there is no need to reach that sort of extreme."
The defense minister added: "You must lead your community towards unity. We must not create a tear among us. We are one nation. I will not accept any incitement against soldiers."
Petition calls for disobedience to criminal expulsion calls
185 nationalist Israeli signed a petition, published in several religious and right-wing publications Thursday, calling Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza Strip "disengagement plan" a "crime against humanity" and urging security forces to refuse settlement evacuation orders.
"Police officers and IDF soldiers should listen to their personal conscience and the voice of the national conscience," and refuse to participate in the removal of settlements.
The petition, published in the Religious-Zionist BeSheva newspaper, was signed by Professor Ben Zion Netanyahu, father of Binyamin Netanyahu, as well as by the Finance Minister's brother and uncle.
"Confronting the Sharon government's intention to destroy settlements in the land of Israel and to transfer them to enemy hands, we declare that the uprooting of the residents is a national crime, a crime against humanity and is an exposure of tyranny, evilness and arbitrariness meant to deny Jews their rights," the petition states. "We believe that the IDF is intended to protect the country and is not to act against Jewish citizens. The IDF is the people's army and does not belong to a political group," it states.
The petition also characterized the planned uprooting and removal of Jewish citizens to be a form of "ethnic cleansing" prohibited by universal laws of human rights.
"Therefore," the petitioners write, "We call on public officials who are being asked to lay the groundwork for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from their homeland, and on all of the officers, troops and policemen, to listen to the voice of their consciences and not participate in acts that will dirty them, and which they will regret for the rest of their lives."
The signatories also called on the residents of settlements slated for destruction to non-violently resist "not to cooperate with the expulsion machine, not to accept monetary compensation, to resist the withdrawal without harming our people even though they are coming to destroy our homes."
The publication of the petition followed a demand made earlier in the week by prominent heads of Yeshivot and other Rabbis that Israel take a harder line against Palestinians, even it means killing innocent civilians.
Hagai Ben-Artzi, brother-in-law of Finance Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, compared Sharon's expel-and-destroy plan to that of the Nazis. "In the last century, the only ones who banished and transferred Jews, because they were Jews, were the Nazis. This is a historical fact. Whoever repeats this act -- and especially here in this land to which we returned after thousands of years so that we would never be banished again -- is repeating a Nazi act, and an anti-Semitic act," Ben-Artzi said on Israel Radio Friday.
Ben-Artzi said that what the Right is demanding is no different than what left-wing opinion leaders demanded against the possible removal of Arabs from their homes. "Amos Oz once said 'we will lay down on the roads, block the crossings, and blow up the bridges to stop the transfer of Arabs,' everything Oz said then, we are saying now," Ben-Artzi told Israel Radio.
"If, God forbid, Ariel Sharon does not bring his plan for a vote amongst the nation for general elections, and tells the nation 'here are the changes I want to make - vote for me,' I am afraid that not only will there be refusal of orders, and rebellion, but blood will be shed. It will be terrible. People are fighting for their homes, and especially when [Sharon's plan] is being done undemocratically, I suspect blood will be shed," ben-Artzi warned.
He added that many people voted for Sharon against Amram Mitzna, who had called for a unilateral separation from the Palestinians. "Then there was a vote amongst Likud members, which we won. Then there was the Likud convention, which we won. So if a person sees that the Prime Minister, this dictator, continues to ignore the democratic process, and he sees that all the democratic means are blocked to him, he is left with no choice but to act in violent ways," Ben-Artzi added.
Lapid: Petitioners "Incite to civil war"
Justice Minister Yosef "Tommy" Lapid (Shinui) warned: "Calls of rabbis and settlers to use violence to prevent evacuation is a danger to the well-being of the nation. It is inconceivable that in the name of love of the homeland will incite to civil war." He added: "We will not remain silent as incitement turns to a real threat in which there are the foundations of rebellion."
"These comments are a basis for mutiny and a threat of violence against the security forces. If they [the Right] rebel, and if they incite, they will be brought to justice like any and all criminals," Lapid said.
"I am worried about a civil war, and am warning that the comments we have heard in recent days will have very serious consequences," he added.
Labor Party MK Eitan Cabel criticized the petitioners, specifically taking to task their statement that the disengagement plan is a "crime against humanity", a description he says should apply only to the Nazis.
"There are, sadly, some people who think we live in a halacha [religious law] state and not in a democratic state where elections are the only way to change things," Cabel said. "To accuse the Israeli government of committing a crime against humanity, a description reserved for the Nazis, is totally unacceptable."
|
|
 
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
|
