-Caveat Lector-
Vigilante rule brings anarchy to Bethlehem
FROM SAM KILEY IN JERUSALEM
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,46950,00.html
ANARCHY began to spread through the occupied territories
yesterday with the emergence of Jewish militia groups and armed
Palestinian gangs refusing to take orders from their central
authorities. Security sources on both sides said there was a
danger that they would be unable to control extremists after a
series of attacks by Palestinians, in defiance of orders from
Yassir Arafat to stop the fighting.
Settlers went on an armed rampage in which 30 people were wounded
in Husan, near Bethlehem. In the north of the West Bank at Kfar
al Dik, the Israeli Army was forced to declare the Palestinian
village a closed military area for hours when settlers rioted and
brandished their weapons.
Settlers tried to storm the village in protest at the wounding of
another settler by Palestinians from Kfar al Dik overnight. The
army joined in the reprisals by bulldozing 250 olive trees that
it said had been used as cover by Palestinian gunmen.
For the Israeli authorities, the Palestinians remain the main
cause for concern, but after warnings that there might be an
attempt on his life from Palestinians or Israeli fanatics, Shaul
Mofaz, the Israeli Chief of Staff, has taken delivery of a
bullet-proof BMW.
Palestinian areas appear to be rapidly descending into chaos amid
high-level warnings that Bethlehem is likely to be a focus of
trouble in the weeks before Christmas.
"Things are getting very dangerous. There are problems with armed
elements in Bethlehem which have been ordered to stop firing on
Gilo (a Jewish settlement forming the southern edge of
Jerusalem). They listen to what they are told by the authorities
and then they just go out and make things
worse," a Palestinian security source in Bethlehem said.
It has been clear for some time that Mr Arafat's "control" over
the al-Aqsa intifada does not extend to the radical Palestinian
elements, including the West Bank leaders of his own Fatah
movement.
Jewish settlers have also begun to show open contempt for the
army and the rule of law on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip,
where 80 per cent of the land is still under Israeli military
occupation.
Yesterday settlers from the Gush Etzion area, a middle- class
religious settlement, formed a militia to patrol bypass tunnels
built to avoid driving through Palestinian-controlled Bethlehem.
The road has been closed repeatedly over the past two months and
has been the scene of gunbattles between settlers alongside the
army and Palestinians. Yesterday Jewish militiamen could be seen
driving the tunnel route with their rifles poking out of car
windows.
Yesterday morning one settler was wounded by Israeli troops when
he drove through an Israeli army roadblock on the West Bank.
"There is no doubt that settlers are taking the law into their
own hands. In fact they have done so from the start of the
al-Aqsa intifada, with attacks on Palestinians almost every day.
In areas where they are living close to Jewish settlements, the
Palestinians are in great danger from vigilantes who shoot at
them every day," Neta Golan, an Israeli human rights campaigner
in Kfar al Dik, said.
An estimated 293 people have been killed since the start of the
uprising, of whom about 35 are Jews. Yesterday Israeli soldiers
shot dead one man near Bethlehem and another in Ramallah.
In Amman, the Jordanian capital, Shlomo Ratsabi, an Israeli
Embassy employee, was shot and slightly wounded in the leg in an
attack on his car yesterday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.
An economic blockade of Palestinian towns has cost the
Palestinians an estimated �5.5 million a day. Sealed into their
villages with bulldozed mounds of earth and army roadblocks,
Palestinians have been unable to work for weeks.
Food deliveries have been sporadic and medical supplies are
routinely held up by the Israelis, who often also delay
ambulances trying to reach Palestinians. In this atmosphere,
anarchy among Palestinians is likely to spread.
Copyright 2000 Times Newspapers Ltd. This service is provided on
Times Newspapers' standard terms and conditions. To inquire about
a licence to reproduce material from The Times, visit the
Syndication website.
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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