Settlers Against the State

Three years ago Israel pulled settlers and soldiers from Gaza and evacuated four settlements in the northern West Bank in an emotional operation that pitted settlers against the state. That evacuation was virtually free of violence, but since then, the minority, radical West Bank movement has become increasingly resistant to state authority. In the last month, there have been several attacks on Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians, and vows that further evacuations of outposts or settlements will be met with violence.

There are some 100 West Bank "outposts," which are illegal under Israeli law. Outposts are unsanctioned settlements, often in the form of shacks or trailers that are set up in order to expand or connect existing settlements or to start new ones. They are meant to further entrench settlers throughout the West Bank by creating a kind of settlement suburban sprawl. Outposts also allow settlers to play a cat and mouse game with the army-trailers can be removed and put back in place-that will make ouster more difficult and more contentious. Israel's ability to dismantle outposts, which is required by the Bush administration's roadmap plan, has become a bellwether for its ability to deal with the settlement enterprise and the settler movement in general.

The recent outbreak of violence began on July 24, when the Israeli army removed an empty bus that was being used as a makeshift outpost near the extremist settlement of Yitzhar. Hundreds of settlers rioted in response. They set fire to the nearby hills, which surround several Palestinian villages, burning down olive and almond trees; they blocked intersections and threw stones at passing cars, including Israeli army jeeps.

One of the participants in the violence described their actions to the Israeli daily Maariv: "We notified hundreds of activists, and within minutes, we were in the field. We went to more than ten spots . . . to intersections, Arab villages, agricultural areas. We demonstrated, we protested, we threw stones, we blocked roads, we burned fields, and we clashed with security forces. The days are over when the police fought us and we sat down and took it lying down. . . . For every evacuation, for every demolition and destruction, for every stone moved, they will get war."

Yitzhar, one of the most radical West Bank settlements, has long been a flashpoint of confrontation between Israeli authority and extremist settlers. In their book, Lords of the Land: The War over Israel's Settlements in the Occupied Territories, 1967-2007,  Idith Zertal and Akiva Eldar described the first attempt at Yitzhar's evacuation in 1996, "which reached the point of a bloody, ferocious conflict between the army and the settlers." Following that battle, the government was left "mute and helpless . . . outposts sprang up like mushrooms," and the defense minister's power to counter settlers was reduced.

In June of this year, a yeshiva student from Yitzhar fired a home-made rocket toward a Palestinian village. Colonel Amir Baram, the army's commander in the northern West Bank, learned that the army's security coordinator in Yitzhar likely had advance warning of the incident and failed to report it. Baram suspended that security coordinator's service, igniting a battle between the army and Yitzhar's leaders.  "In the wake of the suspension," Roi Sharon explained in Maariv on July 24, "settlement officials refused to accept new soldiers," and officials from the army brigade "realized that the soldiers were not wanted there and pulled the security forces out of the settlement." With the removal of its soldiers, the army effectively ended its presence within Yitzhar.

Last week, Colonel Baram concluded his term as commander of the northern West Bank. Before completing his service, he warned a group of Israeli soldiers and government officials, as quoted by Jonathan Lis in Haaretz on July 29, that "the community's moderates are unable to exert their authority over the yeshiva boys."

Baram was speaking about Yitzhar, but even more, about the leaders of a particularly extremist movement:  a handful of schools (including Yitzhar's Yeshiva Dorshei Yihudcha), rabbis, and a former mayor, who galvanize and direct radical students. One of those Baram named is Daniella Weiss, former mayor of the Kedumim settlement and a long-time leader of the settler movement, who has previously called on soldiers to refuse to implement evacuation orders.

In a statement in Ynet following the riot in Yitzhar, Weiss warned that the evacuation of any outpost would be met with violence. "It's clear as far as the youngsters are concerned, if one outpost is damaged, they will respond in several places in Judea and Samaria, and this is what happened." But Weiss' recent admonitions are directed not only to Israeli authority but also to Yesha, the umbrella organization or "council" of settlements.

Last week, the council approved a deal that would move one of the largest West Bank outposts, Migron, to an established settlement. While settlement opponents have called the compromise a farce, Weiss condemned both the deal and the council. On Tuesday she told Maariv that, "the Settler's Council continues with its deceptions the same way it did in Gush Katif. This time it won't be able to deceive and cheat." Weiss has vowed to mobilize her supporters against an evacuation of Migron, and yesterday Israel's army radio reported that "right-wing organizations are planning to seal off the homes of Settler Council (Yesha) leaders in protest of the evacuation."

The announcement of Migron's evacuation is creating a dividing line between settlers-will they work with the government or will they fight it? But it is also a test for the state. Tovah Lazaroff wrote in the Jerusalem Post on August 12 that the deal "marked the first time that the settlers and the Defense Ministry reached a formal agreement on a significant outpost." Indeed, the Defense Ministry would like to come to a compromise with the settler's council on all outposts. "For more than two years . . ." Lazaroff reported, the state and the Settlers Council have "debated details of a deal on the fate of the 101 unauthorized outposts."

In light of the Yitzhar riot and the threat of further sabotage attempts, the real test will come when Migron's (and every other evacuation) takes place. And when it does, the most critical issue will be controlling the radical minority in the West Bank.

"The Golem has risen up against its creator," Zeev Sternhell wrote in response to the recent violence in Yitzhar. Now it is up to the state and its army to make sure that the violence stops and that all are accountable to one rule of law.