Israels regering avbryter allt stöd till illegala bosättningar

Israeli government cuts all support to illegal settlements

Yuval Diskin, head of Israel's internal security service (Shin Bet), told the Israeli cabinet yesterday that he fears the possibility of political violence by settlers, in the event of the government's ordering a further large-scale evacuation of territory in the West Bank. Diskin was speaking at the conclusion of a cabinet meeting, which saw ministers voting by a large majority to end all government support, both direct and indirect, for illegal settlement outposts. "There is a not insignificant group of outlaws that are behaving in a manner that is threatening the rule of law," caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said ahead of Sunday's cabinet meeting. "This is an intolerable situation that we refuse to accept."

The cabinet ordered Defence Minister Ehud Barak to submit recommendations within two weeks on how law enforcement might be tightened in the territories. Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz recommended that the IDF make greater use of orders banning extremists from entering the West Bank. Diskin noted that he was speaking only of extremist settlers, who he said numbered a few hundred and who had no recognised leadership. Their intention, according to Diskin, is to prevent evacuation of outposts, if necessary by violence. During the meeting, Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer condemned extremist settlers. He described their thinking as "messianic, mystic, satanic and irrational."

Leaders of settlement organisations, meanwhile, harshly condemned the government's decision. The Yesha Council of Settlements said that there was no connection between settlement outposts and extremist violence. Council head Pinchas Wallerstein said that lawbreakers in the West Bank should be dealt with by legal means, but he condemned the use of what he called "generalisations" and "administrative injunctions."

The issue of violence by groups of extremists in the West Bank has emerged as a major focus of media attention in Israel in the past days. There has been a sharp increase in violence of this kind, including a recent pipe-bomb attack on the home of a prominent left-wing professor.

BICOM

http://bicom.org.uk/news/News-archive/israeli-government cuts-all-support-to-illegal-settlements