Jewish Settlements Council Condemns Settlers’ Attack on Refugee Camp

The Executive Council of Jewish Settlements in the West Bank added its voice Tuesday to the almost universal condemnation of Jewish settlers who made an armed attack on the Daheisha refugee camp near Bethlehem Saturday night.

A resolution adopted by the Council stressed that the military authorities alone are responsible for security in the administered territories and any attempt by citizens to take the law into their own hands was contrary to the settlers’ principles. However, the resolution demanded that the authorities take tougher security measures.

Chief of Staff Gen. Dan Shomron held “a handful of extremists” responsible for the attack. Appearing before the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee Tuesday, Shomron reiterated his support for Gen. Amram Mitzna, commander of the central sector, who had described the settlers’ raid on the camp as “despicable.”

ONE DISSENT

All but one of the committee members agreed with him. The exception was Likud MK David Magen, who attacked Mitzna’s politics. He claimed the general was the wrong choice for the central command because of his open criticism of the Lebanon war in 1982.

Tehiya Party leader Yuval Neeman continued his campaign against Mitzna. He asked Attorney General Yosef Harish to bring charges against the officer on grounds that his comments on the Daheisha incident were in contempt of court because the matter was before a court.

Premier Yitzhak Shamir reiterated his condemnation of the attack Tuesday But he disagreed with Israel Defense Force officers who want to confiscate the personal weapons of every man found to have participated in it. Shamir said it was important to prevent the misuse of weapons issued to the settlers for self-defense, but it would be careless to deprive the settlers of their weapons.