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Monday, May 24, 1999

Jewish settlers debate plan by Barak to hand over land

By Jack Katzenell
Associated Press

JERUSALEM - Jewish settlers in the West Bank were divided Saturday about whether to fight the plans of Israel's prime minister-elect to hand over more territory to the Palestinians or cooperate in the hope of saving as many settlements as possible.
   Some settlers' favor demonstrating in Jerusalem against further Israeli withdrawals in the West Bank. Some have even suggested seizing hilltops to prevent them from being handed over.
   "There will certainly be a struggle," said Benny Katzover, head of the Eilon Moreh settlement between Ramallah and Nablus, in an interview broadcast Friday on Israel radio.
   Others, however, are prepared to support Prime Minster-elect Ehud Barak's proposal to evacuate some small, isolated settlements if that would bring a permanent peace settlement.
   Hisdai Eliezer, head of the Alfei Menashe settlement in the western part of the West Bank, said the settlers have no choice but to agree to the evacuations, provided the main settlements remain in Israeli hands.
   "We have no option but to discuss moderation and compromise and settlement along the main roads, and I think that is what Barak is proposing," he told Israel radio.
   During the election campaign, the settlers' Yesha council ran a vigorous campaign throughout Israel in support of Benjamin Netanyahu's unsuccessful bid to be re-elected prime minister. In the wake of Netanyahu's defeat Monday, the council chairman, Pinhas Wallerstein, and its director general, Aharon Domb, both resigned.
  The Yesha council is elected by the mayors and local council heads of all settlements, and it has considerable political influence in Israel.
  Among those in the running to succeed the council chairman is Benny Kashriel, mayor of the biggest West Bank settlement, Maale Adumin, which is located between Jerusalem and Jericho. Kashriel is regarded as a pragmatist.
  "The Wye and Oslo agreements have been signed and there is a prime minister who was elected by a majority of the nation and we have to hold a dialogue with him," he said.
  Meanwhile, Palestinians clashed with Israeli soldiers Saturday near the settlement of Elkana, also in the western part of the West Bank. The Palestinians were protesting against the seizure of a hill by the settlers, who have placed some caravans on the hilltop.
  The Palestinians threw stones at the soldiers who responded with rubber-coated bullets and tear gas, but there were no reports of injuries.
  The Palestinians hope to establish an independent state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and they consider the expansion of settlements as a move to thwart this aim.
  Palestinians also held a peaceful protest Saturday against the beginning of earth-moving at a controversial Jewish housing project in the east Jerusalem Arab neighborhood of Ras el-Amud.

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