For first time, settlers plan mass protests within Green Line

[ProgressiveMuslim]

By Chaim Levinson, Mazal Mualem and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents


Settlers are preparing for a heated confrontation with security services over the construction freeze imposed on West Bank settlements. For the first time, settlers are seeking to organize demonstrations and block roads in several Israeli communities within the Green Line.

On Sunday morning, the residents of Kedumim demonstrated the force being used in the campaign against the freeze.

After settlers blocked police and Civil Administration officials from entering the settlement for several days, the latter finally made their way in on Sunday, by breaking through the fence separating Kedumim and the Palestinian village of Qadum.


When the security convoy tried to leave the settlement, it was blocked by several dozen youths, led by regional council head Hananel Durani and his deputy Kobi Bar-On.

Police were not able to disperse the demonstrators. Only after settlement rabbi Zvi Farbstein asked the female protesters to stop, in order not to violate modesty norms, was the convoy able to leave the settlement, along with two demonstrators they had detained.

Thus, the simple matter of distributing orders to freeze construction in Kedumim took 200 officers and lasted three hours.

Durani said afterward, "Despite the police officers' steely determination, we in Kedumim will fight for our right to continue building up the Land of Israel."

Officials in the Yesha Council of settlements expressed satisfaction, saying that should residents of other settlements put up similar resistance, the Civil Administration will find itself facing serious problems.

In two weeks, inspectors are scheduled to return to the settlements where they distributed the stop-work orders to verify that construction has indeed halted. If it has not, the inspectors are authorized to issue demolition orders.

read on...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1133309.html

[midnight]

1. Who has ownership of Kedumim? I have not followed the details of this

fighting in some time.

[LeftishBrit]

2. Maybe this is a good thing...

as the Israeli authorities and public will have to face up directly to how out-of-control the settlers are getting, and cannot treat them as 'out of sight, out of mind'.

[Sezu]

3. Not to mention that freedom of

speech and assembly should apply to all too, right?

[aranthus]

4. Blocking roads isn't protected speech. n/t

[Violet_Crumble]

5. They've been there, done that before...

They already had a good taste of how out of control the settlers are when they blocked major highways in Israel to protest the disengagement a few years ago. Though it's definately a good thing that they're in Israel itself giving Israelis a small taste of how they behave, rather than in the West Bank where they'd be attacking and terrorising Palestinians instead...