Settlers vow tough struggle
Peretz meets settler leaders to reach an agreement over government plans to evacuate illegal outposts in West Bank; Ynet learns that settlers won't abide by any plan sealed between Yesha Council, gov't
Yesha leaders are holding contacts for the peaceful evacuation of ten illegal outposts but extreme right wing activists have other plans.
Ynet learnt late Thursday evening that even before Defense Minister Amir Peretz's meeting with Yesha leaders, extreme right activists held meetings in Jerusalem to prepare for the evacuations and agreed that "the Amona model will be the model for struggle in every outpost that is evacuated."
On Thursday it was published that Peretz had met a senior Yesha Council official in an attempt to reach an agreement over the government plan to evacuate illegal outposts.
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Evacuation of West Bank settlement of Amona (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
"The ball is in the hands of the defense minister and the Yesha Council will listen to any idea he raises," sources who attended the meeting told Ynet. The sources also said that it is in the best interest of the army to avoid a forceful evacuation of the outposts.
Sources in the Defense Ministry said that as far as Peretz in concerned all illegal outposts will be evacuated and that a special team will be set up to coordinate the evacuation with the settlers.
During the Sukkot holiday IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz met with top Yesha council member Zeev Hever at his home in Kiryat Arba, but the issue of illegal outposts was not discussed.
Extreme right-wing activists told Ynet that the meeting raised concern among their ranks that Yesha is mulling a deal with the army according to which residents of illegal outposts would agree to evacuate their homes willingly.
"It was clear to us that something is going to take shape between Yesha and the IDF. They discussed the possibility of Yesha sealing a deal on the evacuation of outposts," sources who attended the secret meeting of right-wing activists in Jerusalem told Ynet.
Activist who attended the meeting slammed Yesha for negotiating with the IDF.
"It is clear to us that we cannot trust Yesha people. The same maneuvers they did during the disengagement will be done now: On the one hand they will try to sound like wolves but behind the scenes they will embrace (IDF Chief of Staff Lit.-Gen. Dan) Halutz and seal deals with (Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert," a resident of the West Bank settlement of Gav Hahar told Ynet.
Amona-style struggle
Another right-wing activist told Ynet that settlers should draw lessons from the evacuation of Amona in February 2006. "In the Amona evacuation we sidelined the Yesha Council and managed the struggle ourselves. That's how it should be this time round: we'll let Yesha Council Chairman Bentzi Liberman … do the talking in the media, but on the field we need to be in charge," the activist said.
During the secret meeting activist concluded that they would reject any deal reached between Yesha and the government, saying they would urge settlers to prepare for a tough struggle against the authorities.
They also agreed that each outpost evacuated by the IDF and the Israel Police would become a symbol like Amona.
"We were not surprised. As far as we are concerned that's a continuation of the Hever-Halutz meeting over Sukkot," one activist said of Hever's meeting with Peretz.
"We knew then that the Yesha Council is leaning towards concessions and therefore we prepared ourselves then and we are also preparing now. That's a struggle on all of Judea and Samaria. We saw how Yesha's compromises proved useless during the disengagement and our lesson is that we need to face up to those who want to evacuate us in an Amona-style and not in the spirit of Netzarim," he continued.
During the February evacuation of the illegal outpost of Amona settlers and evacuation forces clashed in an unprecedented manner and as many as 200 policemen and settlers were injured.
Pursuant to the evacuation, prime minister Olmert resisted calls to set up a state commission of inquiry and parliamentary commission was established in its stead to investigate settler claims that police had used excessive force against settlers.
