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| By Ryan Jones April 4, 2006 |
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| Hebron homes at the center of the controversy |
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Incredibly, the current Israeli leadership seems to be purposely fostering mistrust between the state and Israeli settlers in Judea and Samaria, making the likelihood of bloodshed the next time Prime Minister Ehud Olmert moves to uproot a Jewish community dangerously high.
Just days before the brutal destruction of the Amona outpost in Binyamin two months ago, the IDF succeeded in reaching a compromise deal with the Jews of Hebron regarding their removal from homes in an old vegetable market on the outskirts of the Avraham Avinu neighborhood.
Many expected the Hebron face-off to also end in violence, but, relying on the High Court's previous ruling that the property in question was indeed Jewish-owned, the settlers reached an agreement with the authorities whereby they would voluntarily vacate the premises and return at a later date with full government approval.
A Knesset inquiry last month into the violence at Amona scolded the Olmert government in its intermediate report for not following a similar process in that instance:
"The compromise reached a short time before [Amona] concerning the eviction of Jews from the wholesale market in Hebron, implicitly supports the idea that the two sides, the government and the settlers, acted in good faith with the intentions of reaching an agreement acceptable to both sides."
Olmert and his circle were accused of actually desiring a confrontation at Amona in order to stir up negative feelings against the settlers and bolster support for his withdrawal plan.
This week Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz threw more fuel on that fire when he negated the before-mentioned Hebron agreement. IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz followed up by reprimanding the army commander who had brokered the deal.
In the aftermath of Amona, many Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, feeling scorned by the rest of their nation, questioned whether or not they should continue to fly the Israeli flag.
This week's further betrayal and what is certain to be perceived by the settlers as clear evidence an Olmert-led government will not honor any agreements, may just lead to future internal bloodshed and possibly civil war, observers fear.
Warned National Union Knesset Member Aryeh Eldad following Amona:
"From here, we go on to the next confrontation, which will be far more harsh. In the third confrontation, there will be shooting deaths and in the fourth confrontation, the government will fall."
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