Israeli Youths Rebuffed in Attempts to Establish Jewish Settlements on West Bank

Three groups of young Israeli nationalists were rebuffed today in attempts to establish their own Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Each of the three groups, numbering several dozen members each, went to a different place–Tel Ras, Beth El and the environs of Nablus. They pitched tents and started unloading household equipment, but military police ordered them to pack up and leave. They offered no resistance. These were not the first individual attempts to settle in the West Bank. The nationalists knew in advance they were doomed to failure because the government has decided on a strict policy of settling the occupied territories only in accordance with its own strategic plan while forbidding–forcibly if need be–any private moves. It is believed that the private organizers, who call themselves the Organization for Settlement in Judea and Samaria, are seeking maximum publicity. They distributed to the press, early in the morning, stenciled background sheets detailing where they would set up their tents. An ideologically kindred group calling itself the National Movement organized demonstrations today outside Deputy Premier Yigal Allon’s home in the Old City of Jerusalem and opposite the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv.