The battle at Amona

This letter appeared in the Jerusalem Post, 2/2/06:

Sir, - Where is the political sense in forcibly evicting Israeli citizens from
Amona and Hebron when Hamas is victorious in the PA? Instead of legitimately
claiming all the territories for Israel prior to any military or political
onslaught by a terrorist-dominated PA, we are giving them the expectation that
Israel will readily collapse before them.
I am neither religious nor believe in biblical justification, but I know that
in any conflict situation it is best to fight or negotiate from a position of
strength. To forcibly remove Jews from the West Bank now and unilaterally
define final borders would be politically stupid, and possibly suicidal.

JACK COHEN
Netanya

Now read on:

The battle that took place Wednesday at Amona, an illegal hilltop settlement
in the West Bank, was the most violent clash so far between the religious
right-wing "settler" forces and the Israeli police/army. The clashes shown on
TV were very brutal, and the only thing that we can be thankful for is that
neither side resorted to guns. But, everything else was used, throwing rocks
down on policemen by settler youth, and horse charges by police on them.
There were ca. 2,400 police/army against ca. 4,000 mainly young religious
people.
Wielding clubs and using strong arm tactics the police cleared the site, and
demolished the nine stone structures within a day. Over 80 police and some
200 of the youth were wounded, and about 40 were arrested. There was only
one severe injury on each side, a policeman who had a cement block dropped
on him, and a youth who was whacked on the head. No-one died!
This was the bloodiest battle so far in the war between the forces of the
State and the religious-right, certainly much worse than the disengagement
from Gaza. Why it was so violent will be the subject of a Knesset Committee
of enquiry. The main issue is why were so many youths allowed to enter what
had been declared a closed military area. Even though buses were stopped,
obviously not enough. Of course, each side blames the other for being too
violent. Since this issue was before the Supreme Court for months, it was
finally decided by the Justices that this illegal settlement could not longer
be allowed to exist. Part of the land on which the settlement was built is
apparently owned by Arabs, but the settlement itself was approved by the
Barak Labor Government, so it itself is not illegal.
So why now? I fault the political echelon for allowing this matter to come
to a head now. They should have somehow headed it off by adopting a
compromise, such as moving the buildings from Amona to the nearby Israeli
town of Ofra, that was suggested by some settler groups. But, many think
that Olmert deliberately wanted this clash so that he could show that he is as
tough as Sharon and that he is doing what the US expects, removing "illegal"
settlements. Actually the Israeli Government was doing the work of Hamas
if it were able to attack Amona, although they would have massacred the
settlers. Meanwhile Jews continue to live on the site.
Jew fighting Jew is the worst situation to have at this time when we need
unity. We expect Arabs to fight each other, such as Fatah and Hamas, but not
us! However, the difference in beliefs between secular Israelis, who want to
give up land to the Palestinians to form a Palestine State and settle the
conflict, and the religious who believe that Jews have the God-given right to
all of the land of Eretz Israel, is very wide. It is difficult to find a
compromise between these two positions, but so far the internecine conflict
has been avoided because we were both united by the common enemy. It has
been said that as the conflict between Israel and the Arabs subsides so the
conflict between secular and religious Jews will increase. In the final
analysis, the policy must be decided by the democratically elected Government.
But, we are far, maybe further than we were, from a resolution of the
Arab/Israeli conflict, and so we have to stick together at least until then.
One of the most pressing functions of any Israeli Government is to manage that
internal struggle. Remember that there are over 100 illegal settlements or
outposts in the West Bank, and I doubt that we could have this kind of clash
repeated without the danger of an all-out war.