Jewish settlers in the West Bank backed off from confrontation with the authorities today after the government made clear it would not tolerate reprisals or vigilantism a way to curb terrorist activity.
Otniel Schneller, head of the council of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, said today that the settlers have no intention of clashing with security forces. He said they fully respected the efforts by police and the Israel Defense Force to maintain security. However, the settlers will continue to pressure the government and Knesset for drastic political measures against Arab terrorism, he said.
The statement was apparently in response to the sharp criticism of settler tactics expressed today by Deputy Premler David Levy, a powerful voice in the Likud leadership who is sympathetic to the settlers’ aims.
He said their harassment of Arabs in the territory has become a nuisance for the security forces. Instead of coping with terrorism, the security echelons are forced to deal with Jewish settlers trying to take the law into their own hands, Levy said.
A CLEAR MESSAGE TO THE SETTLERS
His remarks followed yesterday’s Cabinet decision banning armed patrols by Jewish settlers in Arab towns. That decision and Levy’s statement sent a clear message to the settler leadership that the public atmosphere is not in their favor. Their zeal was also curbed by the strong presence of soldiers and police under orders to get tough with anyone, Arab or Jew, who breaches the peace.
Last night, border police prevented settlers from reopening a blocked passageway from the Jewish quarter in Hebron to the casbahor marketplace which has been under curfew since an Israel soldier was fatally stabbed there last Tuesday.
Groups of armed settlers could be seen yesterday in the streets of Nablus, Jenin, Tulkaremand Kalkiya. The settlers said they were there to teach the Arabs that Jews would not be intimidated by recent attacks in Hebron and elsewhere. There were no incidents. The settlers said today, after the Cabinet decision, that they would lower their profile.
Jewish settlers in Gaza backed out of a plan to establish a yeshiva at an old synagogue on the waterfront of that Arab city. They cited the intervention of unforeseen elements.
The settlers have been harassing convicted Arab terrorists released from prison last May and allowed to return to their homes. A report yesterday that they set fire to the house of one of them was not entirely accurate. They tried but failed to torch a house which turned out to be the wrong house. The terrorists they were trying to cust were sleeping peacefully in a building a few yards away.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
