‘Evil wind of extremism’ as Jewish settlers attack Arabs
Abraham Rabinovich; 4/10/08
With Palestinian violence against Israelis on the West Bank almost totally suppressed, an Israeli general warned this week that violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians - and against Israeli soldiers trying to protect the Palestinians - has become “a very grave phenomenon”. Major General Gadi Shamni, the senior military commander on the West Bank, said hard-core extremists among the 300,000 Israeli settlers had begun escalating their attacks in recent weeks with the encouragement of some settler leaders and right-wing rabbis. “In the past, only a few dozen individuals took part in such activities,” he said in an interview with the newspaper Ha’aretz yesterday. “Today the number has grown to hundreds.” The Jewish militants have burned Palestinian olive groves, harassed local farmers, and closed roads. They have broken the hand of an Israeli army officer trying to stop them and set a dog loose against another.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24442806-2703,00.html