- "There hasn't been one outpost evacuated by the
army which has not been rebuilt."
-
- Only hours after IDF troops demolished the Kahane College
synagogue building Tuesday in an illegal outpost adjacent to the West Bank
settlement of Tapuah, settlers overnight erected a makeshift synagogue
at the hilltop site, settlers said Wednesday.
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- "There hasn't been one outpost evacuated by the
army which has not been rebuilt," West Tapuah activist David Ivri
told Israel Radio Wednesday.
-
- During the afternoon demolition operation Tuesday, 25
people, including eight minors, were arrested and taken to the police station
for questioning on suspicion of interfering with an army operation and
violating a military order forbidding their entry into the area. One of
the women present also attacked a policeman, breaking his nose and biting
his hand, the police said.
-
- Soon after the troops left, "Volunteers started
to gather planks and materials from the wreckage and to rebuild the building,"
Ivri said.
-
- The army began the demolition operation at about 1 P.M.,
a few hours after the High Court of Justice approved the move, in the hope
of completing it before right-wing activists had time to arrive and confront
them. Its first step was to declare the area a closed military territory.
However, about 100 settlers and members of Kahanist movements had already
arrived and began violently resisting the soldiers.
-
- The ones who failed to arrive in time were the 160 policemen
who were supposed to assist the army. However, the soldiers decided not
to wait for them and instead began arresting the rioters. The first policemen
arrived 40 minutes later and took charge of the arrested men.
-
- By 4 P.M., the illegally built edifice was destroyed
and the ground had been cleared.
-
- But in the evening, after the soldiers had left, the
activists returned and began setting up a temporary building on the site
to serve as a synagogue in place of the "Kahane College."
-
- Itamar Ben-Gvir, a well-known Kahanist activist, charged
that one soldier opened fire at the protesters. "I know the army denies
it, but I was standing on the synagogue roof and I heard the shots,"
he said.
-
- He also accused the army of using excessive force, which
he attributed to the fact that the structure being dismantled was affiliated
with Rabbi Meir Kahane's Kach movement. The movement was outlawed as a
terrorist organization in 1994.
-
- Ben-Gvir also lambasted the Yesha Council of settlements,
which is usually in the forefront of resisting the dismantling of illegal
settlement outposts, charging that the council did nothing in this case.
In response, Council Chairman Bentzi Lieberman said the council "opposes
the evacuation of every Jewish foothold in the land of Israel," and
that since the outpost of West Tapuah, where the synagogue was located,
had been approved by two former prime ministers, Benjamin Netanyahu and
Ehud Barak, the Sharon government should have legalized the synagogue,
as well. Nevertheless, he said, "the Yesha Council will not be party
to struggles in which it is impossible to define a clear boundary of nonviolent
struggle against the evacuation."
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- http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/385448.html
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