TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/062689/06268900.031

Text File | 1990-09-22 | 7KB | 122 lines

WORLD, Page 39

MIDDLE EAST

Fighting Fire with Fire

Tired of stones, Israeli settlers launch their own revolt on

the West Bank

By Jon D. Hull/HEBRON


    The Jewish settlers of the West Bank are not easily moved.
Despite 18 months of rebellion by Palestinians who also lay claim
to the land, most of the settlers are more determined than ever to
stay put. But they are less sure about the government's commitment.
Angered by the failure of the Israeli army to put down the uprising
and its inability to provide them with sufficient protection from
the daily onslaught of stones, some of the settlers have launched
an intifadeh of their own. Hard-core extremists, numbering several
thousand, have organized a vicious campaign of retaliation against
Palestinian villages that is inflaming hatred, threatening to
escalate the violence racking the Holy Land, and bringing the
settlers into dangerous confrontation with the Israeli army itself.

    Chaim Waldman is one of the self-proclaimed vigilantes. A
zealous American Jew who moved to the West Bank from Columbus,
Ohio, seven years ago, Waldman considers himself a part-time
commando waging a messianic struggle against his Palestinian
neighbors. "When I go out in my car, I'm hunting for Arabs," says
the 37-year-old engineer. "I put a bullet in the chamber of my M-16
and keep it pointed out the window with the safety off." He
deliberately shifts his Peugeot station wagon into low gear as he
enters Palestinian villages to steady his aim in the event of
attack. "There is a Jewish intifadeh now, and it can't be stopped,"
he says. "We're headed for war."

    Waldman is an eager participant in the wave of retaliatory
raids now igniting the occupied territories. Last month three dozen
settlers went on a rampage in the Palestinian village of Kifl
Harith, near Nablus, smashing and burning property, shooting
animals and spraying houses with hundreds of rounds of automatic
fire. A 16-year-old Palestinian girl was killed by stray bullets
as she hid in her home. The Arab city of Hebron is a frequent
target of Jewish raiders from nearby Kiryat Arba. Daily patrols of
heavily armed settlers cruise the streets to prove they can still
move freely around the city.

    Nothing short of mass expulsion will satisfy the more radical
settlers. "The Jews who live here should be decorated for their
patience," says Aharon Domb, 32, who runs a yeshiva in Hebron. From
his bulging briefcase he pulls out an assortment of Palestinian
weapons: rocks, metal spears, and spikes designed to rupture tires.
By his count, 541 vehicles were damaged and 30 Jews injured in
Hebron during April and May alone. "Look at what we have to live
with," he says, displaying pictures of broken windshields and
bleeding faces. "We accept that settling the land of Israel
requires suffering, but this is too much."

    To defend themselves, the settlers often travel in convoys and
maintain radio contact with situation rooms back home. They get
army escorts to guard Jewish buses in the territories, and have
persuaded the government to subsidize car owners who purchase
shatterproof windows. However settlers travel, army-issued weapons
are always within reach.

    But the extremists prefer an aggressive offense and conduct
paramilitary patrols to protect and punish. Waldman describes their
crude tactics: "After an Arab attack, we send out an alert, jump
into our cars and head for the area. Then we destroy and burn."
Already these vigilantes have killed at least 15 Palestinians,
while one Jewish settler has been murdered by Arabs. Waldman, who
took a sniper's course in the U.S. Army, won't comment on whether
he is responsible for any of the deaths, but confides, "Arabs have
good reason to fear me."

    Soldiers who dare to intervene have been threatened and
harassed -- or merely ignored. When dozens of troops attempted to
block vigilantes leaving Kiryat Arba, the settlers slipped out on
foot or by back roads. Last week police arrested Hebron resident
David Axelrod on charges of physically assaulting soldiers, but the
army has generally been frustrated in its efforts to keep the
vengeful settlers under control. Major General Amram Mitzna, who
heads Israeli forces in the West Bank, has asked the government to
"help us by stopping the settlers' incitement against the Israel
Defense Forces." He warns, "We are in an explosive situation
because of settler actions."

    But Israel's hard-line leaders are reluctant to criticize the
behavior of their fellow nationalists across the "green line."
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir concedes that "no one is entitled to
take the law into his own hands" but reserves his sympathy for the
settlers' plight. Foreign Minister Moshe Arens praises West Bank
Jews as the "frontline obstacle to the establishment of a
Palestinian state." Still, the government hopes to cool off the
settlers with a series of tough new measures against Arab
demonstrators. Last week Chief of Staff Dan Shomron requested an
amendment that would allow him to deport Palestinians before their
appeals are heard. The Defense Ministry also asked lawmakers to
double the period of detention without trial from six months to
twelve months.

    The army insists it will punish Jews who break the law. But
Palestinians say soldiers often stand by idly when settlers attack
Arabs. Rafik, 31, who won't disclose his full name for fear of
retaliation, recalls an attack on his home in the village of Halhul
two weeks ago. Just as the family was finishing breakfast, five
heavily armed men stepped from a car with Israeli license plates
and unleashed a barrage of insults and indiscriminate gunfire. "It
was an expression of raw hatred," says Rafik, pointing to broken
windows and mirrors and a dozen bullet holes in the wall. When the
army arrived, the settlers fled and soldiers fired several rounds
of rubber bullets at the stunned Palestinians as they emerged from
their house. "This violence and humiliation make it difficult to
believe we can ever live together," he says.

    Most settlers realize that Jewish vigilantism makes for bad
public relations at the least, but some Israelis fear the
extremists have something more drastic in mind. As they see it, the
situation will ultimately deteriorate into a full-scale war, what
the more rabid call the "Big Bang," enabling Israel to expel the
West Bank's 980,000 Arabs. Explains Domb: "Killing Arabs doesn't
help our cause. That's why we talk about expulsions. It's more
humane."

    What motivates many of these settlers is fear of a political
solution based on territorial compromise. The most radical will
fight that to the death. Vows Waldman: "If Israeli soldiers ever
try to remove us, I'll go into the hills and fight a guerrilla
war." His Arab neighbors can already attest to his brutal
determination.