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P 081414Z DEC 08
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SUBJECT: SPECIAL ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Hebron Violence 
 
---------------- 
Hebron Violence: 
---------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Settler leader Israel Harel wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz: QThe Yesha Council [of Jewish Settlements in the 
Territories] must come to its senses.... It must stand up to these 
bullies and prevent them, by force if necessary, from harming their 
neighbors, the security forces, and indirectly, every person with a 
conscience and sense of justice. 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized: QEvery law-abiding citizen must say loudly 
and clearly: I am sick and tired of these self-declared messiahs.... 
This is the time for the rule of law to exercise its full power 
against its destroyers. 
 
Conservative Op-Ed Page Editor Ben-Dror Yemini wrote in the popular, 
pluralist Maariv: QInstead of becoming the answer, the right-wing 
youngsters] became a problem. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
 
¶I.  QRestoring YeshaQs Just Cause 
 
Settler leader Israel Harel wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz (12/4): QInstead of trying to draft public opinion against 
the forced evacuation of the house -- there are quite good reasons 
from both a legal and public point of view -- the rioters did 
everything to unite the public against them; a public that is 
demanding the immediate evacuation of the building.  Not only did 
they bring slander on the house, these reckless people damaged the 
legitimacy of the Jewish presence in Hebron, Kiryat Arba, and to a 
certain extent even the settlement movement in Judea and Samaria 
[i.e. the West Bank].  The effect will be that some people will cast 
aspersions on the entire political right, which is now preparing for 
the elections.... The thugs going wild in Hebron, injuring people 
and property, are not a protective wall for settlements, as they and 
their defenders claim.  On the contrary, they cause it to stink and 
weaken it. That is why some people are afraid there are provocateurs 
among them.  The Yesha Council [of Jewish Settlements in the 
Territories] must come to its senses.  It does not have time to wait 
until the long arm of the law plucks its chestnuts out of the fire. 
It must stand up to these bullies and prevent them, by force if 
necessary, from harming their neighbors, the security forces, and 
indirectly, every person with a conscience and sense of justice.  In 
this way, by uprooting those rising up to destroy the Yesha 
settlement movement, its honor, morality, justness of its cause and 
drive will be restored. 
 
II.  "Mayhem in Hebron" 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized (12/5): QThe evacuation of the House of 
Contention in Hebron yesterday brought a cautious measure of 
optimism that, in spite of everything, the government has decided to 
enforce the rule of law and not surrender to lawbreakers and their 
Yesha Council settler lobbyists.  But the evacuation is only one 
step in the necessary campaign against the settlers, whose 
opposition threatens to spread throughout the territories.... The 
feigned innocence of some of the settler leaders and their 
distinction between the thugs and the Qhilltop youthQ are no more 
than a rhetorical sleight of hand.  The failed negotiations between 
the QresponsibleQ leadership and the Defense Minister prove that the 
difference between the leadership and the thugs is semantic. In view 
of these events, every law-abiding citizen must say loudly and 
clearly: I am sick and tired of these self-declared messiahs.... The 
Israeli cabinet, which examines every act and statement in the light 
of electoral repercussions, is not permitted to let the IDF and the 
law become a mockery.  The IDF must stop the hooliganism and 
violence from spilling over onto the Palestinian street, which 
yesterday appeared to be the main victim in the struggle between the 
troops and the settlers.  The settler thugs must know that what they 
call the Qprice tagQ -- a euphemism used to intimidate the defense 
forces -- is a double-edged sword.  This is the time for the rule of 
law to exercise its full power against its destroyers. 
 
III.  "A Paper Tiger" 
 
Conservative Op-Ed Page Editor Ben-Dror Yemini wrote in the popular, 
pluralist Maariv (12/8): QAfter years of telling us frightening 
tales, they persuaded us that the situation was irreversible. After 
disengagement and [the evacuation of the outpost of] Amona, so many 
feared, there was no chance of another evacuation. They're strong. 
They're violent. They seize every hilltop in Judea and Samaria [i.e. 
the West Bank].  They carry out pogroms.  They pay the law no heed 
and there isn't anyne who can hold them accountable.  And, worst ofall, they are dashing the chance of Israel being a ewish and 
democratic state and are creating a binational reality.  If those 
fears are all correc, that would spell the end of Israel.  Nothing 
sort of that.  Because if those hundreds or few thosands are 
capable of dictating to the millions, then we have reached the end 
of the road.... Thoseyoungsters could have challenged the 
anti-Zionists within Israel.  Not with force but with spirit. They 
could have enlisted to help society meet its challenges.  But 
instead of becoming the answer, they became a problem.  It was never 
clear from where they drew their strength.... We are a state without 
borders.  Without identity. We don't even have a self-definition 
yet.  From the middle of the Likud all the way to the middle of 
Meretz you'll find support for the Zionist idea of a Jewish and 
democratic state.  But a wild enterprise of outposts and 
strongholds, with and without the state's approval, has led us to 
ask the following question: Do we still stand a chance?  Is there 
still a way back from that nightmarish vision of a single state? 
The hilltop youth didn't disappear on Thursday. They were only 
exposed in their weakness and bravado.  This is a moment of weakness 
for the nightmarish vision of a bi-national state. It is a moment of 
hope for the Zionist enterprise. 
 
 
SIEVERS