Free Republic

The mood in Jerusalem this week was one of shock. As if it weren't enough that the Obama administration is ignoring previous understandings between Israel and the Bush administration regarding natural growth in the settlements, now it seems there isn't agreement even on the outposts. The Rice-Weissglas compromise, which stipulated that Israel would evacuate 26 outposts established in the West Bank after the Sharon government came to power in March 2001 (in the meantime, that number has been reduced to 23), is no longer accepted by the Americans. The daily Maariv has reported that the United States is now demanding...

I am the problem. I am the one. The head of the free world referred to me, personally, my family, as the reason for the unrest in the world . With a broom in my hand, trying gamely to clean up the popcorn from my son's movie party, I am the reason that there is no world peace. Obama handed me the world's destiny. He told me - 'if you stop building, stop growing, all will be right in the Middle East. Don't even think of Iran or Darfur or the honor killing of the women in your region. Your...

Among the 200 activists that gathered at the Maoz Esther site was Hebron-Kiryat Arba Chief Rabbi Dov Lior, who explained why peace was impossible in the Middle East. "It's all illusions. With these savages, there was never peace, there is no peace and there will not be peace," he said. "It's not because we don't want it, but because they are enemies of peace. We just have to hope that our entire country is cleared of terrorists, their supporters, their backers and their camels. They should all be sent to Saudi Arabia."

A day after US President Barack Obama reiterated his call to stop settlement activity during a speech in Cairo, defiant settlers continued to erect illegal structures in the West Bank...the settlers built a wooden structure they mockingly called the "Obama Hut," saying it was a sign of appreciation for the US president for his actions that had led to a dramatic rise in the number of outposts.

They may falsely say your comrades gave confessions implicating you. They may bug your cell. They may deprive you of sleep, force you to sit in contorted postures for hours, even blindfold and beat you. Such warnings about Israeli interrogators from the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service are usually sounded among jailed Palestinians. But this time, they appear in a Hebrew-language pamphlet written for Jewish settlers and their sympathizers. With friction building in the occupied West Bank over the prospect -- albeit distant -- of a Palestinian state, the Shin Bet is quietly knuckling down on Jews who might turn...

Israel's hardest battle may still lie ahead, and it's not against an Arab foe. Warnings are growing louder that evicting tens of thousands of Jewish settlers from the West Bank's heartland — a requirement for peace with the Arabs — will be bloody, and perhaps fail. The defense minister says extremism is spreading among ultranationalists like "a cancerous growth," the intelligence chief warns of a growing readiness to take up arms to resist evacuation, and some settler rabbis are urging religious soldiers to refuse orders. It's a homegrown problem: For decades, Israel pampered settlers as brave pioneers, and the government...

Deputy State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan has instructed police to launch an investigation regarding a ceremony that was held to praise soldiers who refused an order to evict settlers from the Hebron market. During the ceremony these soldiers received payment as reward for their refusal. The order was given following a police investigation that raised suspicion that soldiers were incited to refuse commands, an act which under Israeli law is a crime in itself. Nitzan also ordered an investigation into an ad published on the Internet by a group called the Headquarters to Save the People and the Land of Israel,...

Israeli settlers will no longer be invited to events at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv. Crispin Blunt, a member of the British Parliament who is closely involved with Arab lobby groups, had complained after finding out that three leaders of the settlers' movement were among the guests at a party to mark the 82nd birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. Blunt, a longtime supporter of the Arab and Palestinian causes, raised the issue in Parliament last month and in a letter to Dr. Kim Howell, the minister at the British Foreign Office. Blunt wrote that the invitation gives the impression...

In recent weeks the IDF has been collecting hundreds of military-issued weapons in the Binyamin region in the West Bank, including weapons that were in the possession of IDF officers. According to reports Tuesday, the only people who were given leave to keep their weapons were rapid response teams and those charged with maintaining security in the settlements. "This is a severe blow to the security of those driving on roads in the territories, especially following the removal of roadblocks and the delivery of weapons to the Palestinian Authority," a reserve officer who lives in the West Bank told Israel...

More than 60 years after the Raj ended, a fresh wave of bold British settlers are heading east to booming, thriving India to make their fortunes and forge new lives there. We report on the great rupee rush. For centuries, Britons have been knocking on India’s door. The would-be nabobs of the East India Company, the ambitious younger sons seeking to make their own way in the Indian Army, Latin tutors for Rajput princes, not to mention the unmarried girls of the “fishing fleet” setting sail in search of husbands... The colonial relationship ended with independence in 1947, but then...

Early settlers drained marshy US landscape 19:00 17 January 2008 NewScientist.com news service Catherine Brahic A milldam on Pickering Creek in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The dam spans the entire valley, and is filled to the brim with sediment (Image: Robert Walter and Dorothy Merritts) Standard notions of the 'natural' eastern US landscape with its meandering ribbon-like streams may be misguided, suggests historical research. In the US, a multibillion-dollar landscape restoration industry is guided by the almost intuitive notion that natural, gravel-bedded streams wander in single channels across the land. This springs from the assumption that, when European settlers arrived in...

PA Arab Squatters Remain on Jerusalem Property 5 Kislev 5768, 15 November 07 05:49 by Ezra HaLevi(IsraelNN.com) Yitzchak Herskovitz, in his eighties, continues to battle Arab squatters in the courts as yet another eviction was postponed Sunday. Herskovitz has been in the courts for fifteen years against a clan of PA Arabs who are squatting on a property he owns just below the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Givat HaMatos, near Beit Tzefafa. Even after multiple rulings in his favor, the return of his property had been repeatedly delayed and called into question. “The government and courts are responsible for protecting...

Army warns Hebron settlers to evacuate market willingly Military Advocate General’s office says Jewish families residing in West Bank city’s market will be held financially responsible should IDF be instructed to forcefully evacuate them from the site Efrat Weiss Published: 07.30.07, 21:43 / Israel News The Military Advocate General’s office on Monday warned Jewish families residing in Hebron’s old market that should the IDF be instructed to forcefully evacuate them from the site, they would be held financially responsible. “The deadline for a voluntary evacuation (from the market) has passed, and the authorities in the area plan to work toward...

At 35, Yitschak Pindrus is the youngest mayor in Israel, but above the average age for a resident of his West Bank city of Betar Illit, whose population is increasing at four times the pace of the country. Betar Illit is one of the fastest-growing communities in Israel, ballooning 70 percent between 2000 and 2005. This kind of record would make any settler leader proud. But with his black hat, black shoes and haredi beliefs, Pindrus doesn't fit the stereotype of the rugged, sandal-clad settler with a rifle strapped across his back. "I don't own a pair of sandals," he...

Rumors of upcoming evacuation haven't deterred outposts in Binyamin region in West Bank from expanding. Ynet tour of area reveals new permanent structures being built, and introduction of new trailers as civil administration, meant to be upholding policy of Israeli government in West Bank, looks on in silence. Peace Now: Government continues to allow settlers to do whatever they wish Efrat Weiss Published: 11.16.06, 17:51 Settlers continue to expand outposts and to build permanent structures in blatant disregard for impending evacuation. This emerged from a Ynet tour of the Binyamin region of the West Bank. It turns out that a...

Every year an anonymous settler would damage olive trees in Kfar Salem grove. Since they did not know his name, village called him Gideon. But this year, IDF is keeping the settlers away and harvest is underway In recent years the main concern of the farmers from the village of Salem near Nablus was a settler they christened as Gideon. They didn't know who he was, but every year he would come to the olive groves, wreak havoc on them and assault Palestinian farmers. Most of the harvesting on Tuesday was done inside the village as access to the grounds...

Army must make law enforcement against settlers a policy backed by action Mooky Dagan Published: 09.21.06, 14:49 For years human rights organizations have pointed out the complicity between the Israel Defense Forces command headquarters in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israeli settlers, nurtured by policies intended to facilitate the Judaization of the West Bank. The army’s bond with the settlers leads to a policy of non-action as far as maintaining the law and the security of Palestinians, who are subject to constant violent harassment by their illegal neighbors. While the IDF and the Civil Administration (which deals with civilian conflicts...

(IsraelNN.com) The government is reviving plans to demolish several hilltop communities, often called outposts, according to Mideast Newsline. The demolitions were postponed because of the Hamas and Hizbullah terrorist attacks on Israel. Kadima officials have said the party's election platform to destroy dozens of towns in Judea and Samaria is no longer a high priority item, but the hilltop communities still are on the chopping block. Sources quoted by Mideast Newsline said demolition orders could force the deployment of thousands of policemen and soldiers to encounter expected resistance. As during last summer's expulsion of thousands of Jewish residents of Gaza...

IDF to bus hitchhiking settlers Following kidnappings, IDF taking number of steps in order to protect hitchhiking settlers from terrorists Guy Mai-Tal Starting next week, the IDF will provide the settler’s with buses to pick up hitchhikers at various hitchhiking posts in Judea and Samaria. Unfortunately for Eliyahu Asheri, who earlier this week hitched a ride and then disappeared, it may be too late. Gaza kidnapping – special coverage Despite the tense security situation and alerts predicting continued kidnapping attempts, scores of young settlers continue to hitchhike in Judea and Samaria. Due to the low number of buses passing through...

Excerpt - According to a Palestinian Resistance Committees statement Wednesday morning, the group claimed it was holding, "Eliyahu Pinchas Asheri," the 18-year-old Itamar resident who went missing on Sunday. A spokesman for the group, known only as Abu Abir, told Al-Jazeera satellite TV early Wednesday that Asheri would be "butchered in front of TV cameras" if the IDF operation in Gaza did not stop. "Our patience is running out," said Abu Abir. ~ snip ~