Right-winger faces detention

TEL AVIV - Neria Ofen, a 34-year-old father of four from the settlement of Yizhar, was arrested Sunday and placed in administrative detention in Ashkelon's Shikma Prison on suspicion that the man planned to murder Palestinians. Right-wingers have decried the arrest as the beginnings of a "witchhunt." Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz signed the administrative detention order against Ofen, and the order will stay in effect until September 30. According to settlers, Ofen was involved in the "Defensive Shield" movement, which tries to get soldiers to disobey commands to evacuate settlers. Ofen was stopped with his family at the Hizma checkpoint and went peacefully with arresting security personnel. As his wife was driving back home to Yizhar, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at her car while she was passing the northern West Bank village of Luban a-Sharqiya. There were no injuries. Security sources said that this would not necessarily be the last time they would slap a right-wing radical with administrative detention. However, they said that this is not the beginning of a crackdown. Right-wing reaction Knesset Member Arieh Eldar (National Union) said, "I want to bless the first administrative detention prisoner of Sharon's dictatorial reign and tell him, 'To be jailed is to be victorious.'" The Yesha Council warned against the slippery slope of using administrative detentions, an instrument of totalitarian regimes. "The few democratic values left became this evening a thing of the past," the council said in a statement. The group has requested an emergency meeting with Mofaz. "The order shows that the government is panicking, and it is applying measures that are neither democratic nor would stand the scrutiny of the courts," Yizhar Spokesman Yigal Ameti said. "This is not the first time that this government has begun plunging us towards dictatorship. Good morning, Argentina." The "Women in Green" movement promised it would not let administrative detentions stop its anti-disengagement activities. This is not the first time a right-wing group has been slapped with administrative detention. However, Noam Federman of Hebron was placed under house arrest instead of being sent to prison.

Right-winger faces detention

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz signs administrative detention order against Neria Ofen, suspected of planned terror attack against Palestinians