Dozens of Israeli settlers storm West Bank military base

[RedZero]

http://wireupdate.com/dozens-of-israeli-settlers-storm-west-bank-military-base.html


TEL AVIV (BNO NEWS) -- Dozens of Israeli settlers and right-wing activists stormed a military base in the West Bank on early Tuesday morning after rumors spread that the Israeli military was preparing to evict a settlement, local media reported.

Some 50 settlers entered a key military base near the West Bank city of Qalqilya on early Tuesday morning, throwing rocks, burning tires, and vandalizing military vehicles. Settlers also threw stones at the vehicle of an Israeli army division commander, who sustained minor injuries when a stone hit his head.

Right-wing activists also blocked a main West Bank road and threw stones at passing Palestinian vehicles and Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers in the area. No arrests were made, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported on its website.

The settlers were acting in response to a rumor that the IDF would act to evict the largest outpost in the West Bank in accordance with a Supreme Court ruling in August. The court ruled that the state must complete the evacuation of Migron, which has a total population of 280 people, by March 31, 2012, since it was "illegally constructed on private land."

Tuesday's attack was widely condemned by politicians and right-wing groups, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called an emergency meeting shortly after. "The situation is intolerable," Netanyahu said. "We must take care of these rioters with a firm hand. We will not tolerate a situation in which IDF officers and soldiers are attacked and distracted from protecting Israeli citizens."

Defense Minister Ehud Barak also condemned the attack, saying the actions "carry an air of self-made terrorism." He also instructed IDF forces to use all means necessary to find the perpetrators.

[Ocean Seal]

Wow they're complaining that they don't have enough settlement land? There is certainly something fucked up here.

[Stalin Ate My Homework]

I'd like to believe that Zionism is just a ruling class ideology, uunfortunately it seems that the vast majority of Israeli's believe in it.

[Sasha]

I'd like to believe that Zionism is just a ruling class ideology, uunfortunately it seems that the vast majority of Israeli's believe in it.

Nah, this kind of shit will be the undoing of the setler movement, more and more Israelis get the feeling they are being taken hostage by an extremist fringe element making it easy for even likud to eventually broker a "good friday agreement". It will be a deal that will greatly be negatively slanted for the Palestinians as a whole but the zionist extremist will loose too.

[blake 3:17]

The settler phenomenom is one most Zionists and Israelis wish would disappear.

But they do have support:
New 'alternative Zionist fund' supporting right-wing settler groups
The Israel Independence fundraises money for an organization that reports to settlers on IDF movements in the West Bank. What links it to the National Union party, the prime minister's sister-in-law and a U.S. millionaire?

By Uri Blau
Tags: Israel settlements IDF West Bank
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The announcement was posted three weeks ago at 1:23 in the morning on the popular Israeli website Rotter.net (Hebrew only): "Tonight again, warning about [Israeli] forces in Samaria. Roadblocks in the direction of Yitzhar." The post continued: "Tatzpit [Observation] news agency reports that police and army forces are now deployed across Samaria. The report received by Tatzpit cites roadblocks in the Yitzhar area. It is also reported that right-wing activists who followed a police convoy that was traveling toward Samaria were detained by the police."

This wasn't the only report by Tatzpit in recent months that was aimed at updating activists seeking to block the possible evacuation of settlers in the West Bank. Forty-eight hours earlier, during a wild night that saw right-wingers invade the base of the Ephraim Brigade, Tatzpit reported on its Facebook page: "The police forces have just stopped between Shilo and Eli. The forces are escorting two bulldozers, a bus and jeeps." Also: "Jinspot junction near Ramat Gilad has been blocked to movement of Jews. The fear of demolition tonight is mounting!"

Who solicits donations for this group, which aids the right-wing struggle against the Israel Defense Forces? An investigation by Haaretz Magazine finds that the donations to Tatzpit and to several other right-wing groups pass through an organization called the "Israel Independence Fund [Hakeren Le'atzmaut Yisrael] - Public Benefit Company Ltd," founded in 2007. The chairman is Nachman Eyal, from the settlement of Psagot, a well-known activist who is also the director general of the National Union party. One member of the company's board of directors is attorney Dafna Netanyahu, the prime minister's sister-in-law.

Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, chairman of the National Security Council since March, was a board member of the Independence Fund from the day it was founded. Notification that he was no longer on the board was conveyed to the registrar of companies in May, two months after his appointment in the Prime Minister's Office. Amidror told Haaretz Magazine, however, that he has not been involved in the fund for more than a year, and that when he was on the board he did not support the activity of Tatzpit.

"The moment I felt that I could not accept everything that others in the fund thought should be done, I left," he says.

A year after the founding of the Independence Fund, a not-for-profit body with the identical name in English was established in the United States. The two groups were supposed to work together, but because of differences went their separate ways. At the beginning of 2010, after two years of inactivity, the Israeli organization "came back to life." This was the period in which the left-wing New Israel Fund was under assault from various quarters, and for the IIF this was an excellent opportunity for self-promoting PR.

Full story: http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/new-alternative-zionist-fund-supporting-right-wing-settler-groups-1.405848