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Uprooting Jews

Gov't ups war against settlers

Demonization reaches new heights with comparison to Hamas


By Ryan Jones
February 02, 2006

Efforts by the Olmert government to demonize the hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers as it moves to further implement its ?disengagement? policies reached new heights in the wake of Wednesday's bloody destruction of Amona.

Following the violent clashes that characterized the removal of that small hilltop community, an aide to Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert referred to Amona's residents and the thousands of supporters who tried to defend their homes as a ?Jewish Hamas.?

Olmert himself did his best to lay all the blame for the days bloodshed on those Jews who for decades have risked everything in holding fast to and defending their nation's right to their God-given land:

?Those who resisted the security forces simply acted violently. This is a phenomenon that cannot continue or be accepted. When bricks are thrown at the heads of soldiers and police officers, a line has clearly been crossed.?

But witnesses to the action - including most of the journalists present, according to Ha'aretz ? were stunned by the level of brute force applied by the government forces from the outset, which certainly further inflamed and escalated of the settlers' response.

Olmert's associate told Ynet that the clearly traumatic effect such evacuations have on the nation notwithstanding, two more communities are slated to be removed in the coming weeks because they too are ?illegal?:

?There is a legal decision to evacuate two other illegal outposts, the 725 outpost and the Sakali hill. What is illegal is illegal, and no other order is needed. We must evacuate it.?

But the classification of these communities as ?illegal? is really a matter of debate, considering that most of them were established with the encouragement and active participation of previous governments ? including that of Ariel Sharon ? on hilltops deemed strategically important by the defense establishment.

When you provoke your population by giving them something and then calling them criminals for taking it, it should be of little surprise that they respond with frustration and even violence, thereby breaching the rule of law.

Some say that's what Olmert wanted all along, noting that the prime minister knows he cannot defeat Hamas and Israel's Islamic foes, so he is creating a new enemy ? the settlers ? over which he is certain of victory.

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