2006-02-07-Jewish Right—Amona |
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jewishsightseeing.com, February 7, 2006 |
By Ira Sharkansky
We are currently being roiled by religious nationalists
(otherwise known by their knitted skullcaps) over charges that the
police were brutal when they cleared a half-dozen buildings from the
settlement of Amona in the West Bank.
The police were more forceful than when sent to evacuate
isolated hilltop trailers. Then they were armed only with their hands.
In each case they had to seize and carry a dozen or so young protesters
kicking and screaming off the property. This time they faced more than a
thousand protesters, who swore their intense opposition. The religious
commandos, mostly between the ages of 14 and 20, mounted the roofs of
the buildings and armed themselves with stones, concrete blocks, staves,
and who know what else.
The police and army reinforcements, also in their
thousands, gathered the night before and waited until dawn. At 3 AM
political leaders of the settlers submitted yet another petition to the
Supreme Court. Over the years there had been several efforts at
negotiation. The Court had already denied several motions, and ordered
the destruction to proceed. The "new idea" presented at 3 AM
won a more or less automatic temporary stay from the judge on duty for
emergencies, but at 8 AM a three judge panel rebuked the settler leaders
for their dilatory actions. Settlers responded by saying that the
government was not willing to talk, and that the Court was nothing but a
left-wing flunky.
At 9 AM the police moved in with horses and staves. They
did not carry any other weapons, and did not use dogs or tear gas. The
protesters threw everything they had onto the police, sought to topple
ladders with police on them, and kicked those who fell during the
struggle. The 200 or so injured included both police and protesters.
Knesset Member Effie Eitam claimed his bloodied head came from a police
baton. Most injuries were light or moderate. To my knowledge, only one
protester was injured critically, and he has since improved.
A couple of days later, police reported that their review
of films showed Eitam distant from police at the time of his injury, and
surmised that he was hit by a protester's rock. While he claimed to be
working to calm the protest, the police reported that he was heard
shouting, "Don't throw stones at me." A cartoon in Ha'aretz
showed Eitam visiting a physician, and asking if he could keep his head
bandaged until the election.
Watching all this on real time television coverage was
bad enough. Worse was the blather of what we have heard since then: police
brutality against some of the best youngsters Israel has produced, a
refusal to compromise, and deafness toward an important segment of the
population that is being alienated by the government's posture toward
Jews who wish to settle in the Land of Israel. A protest meeting in the
center of Jerusalem attracted tens of thousands. Settler leaders
charged, among other things, that police officers touched female
protestors improperly (while they were dragging them away), and said
sexually nasty things to them.
I have had some interchanges with religious nationalist
friends, and find myself saddened at the mental closure of people who I
perceived to be moderate and reasonable. According to them, the Israeli
police were more violent than anything apparent in the United States or
Europe! Included in the comparison were police responses to anti-Vietnam
protests, the Democratic Convention in 1968, and the red nasties in
Europe during the same period.
What settlers and their allies overlook is that, when
dealing with Arab protesters, the police carry their firearms and
occasionally use them. Dogs and gas are not used when dealing with Jews,
seemingly because of unfortunate associations with the Nazis. Even
staves and horses are rare, and employed only when the temper of
protestors is especially high.
Are we in for a serious clash, perhaps even the civil war
that emotional observers have anticipated?
There is, of course, no obvious answer about the future.
It is important to remember that these events are occurring two months
before an election. Secular as well as religious parties are trying to
arouse their constituencies. The primary political party of the settlers
(National Religious Party), has split between moderate and extreme
factions, and in some polls its moderate remnant has been close to the
line where it might not win enough votes to enter the Knesset. One
commentator said that rabbis have lost control to a group of 14
year olds.
It is not a simple case of "religious" versus
"secular." The ultra-Orthodox, who comprise about one-half of
the religious population, are not involved. Shabbat and graves,
autopsies, and money for their schools are more important to them
than arguments about the Land of Israel. The large number of
"traditional" working class, Sephardi Jews, mostly observant
but mixed in the commandments they follow, tend not to protest anything
other than poor results by their football teams.
It is a time for disappointment. Maybe concern or
even worry. Not yet panic.
Sharkansky is an emeritus member of the political science department at Hebrew University in Jerusalem |