this is a very thorny question, and with all due respect, the settlers were about say 250,000 (5%) people who held the State of Israel hostage for three caravans on top of one isolated hill. So many times 2-3 children from a settlement required two army jeeps and a tank in order to be driven to and from school on a daily basis. The settlers and a few orthodox insisted that we need to hold on to some tomb where Joseph or someone is buried, that they need to learn there, start a yeshiva, start a synagogue. The death toll exalted by these ideas - the settlers themselves and their children, and our soldiers, so many soldiers maimed and killed so that a few families can stay in Hebron or who knows where. And the huge handouts obtained as bribes or extortion while the state cannot feed its poor and is closing down esential facilities for the handicapped - like blind people, or severely retarded people, while welfare education and health care, sees painful cutbacks. Not to speak of the army - no money to equip tanks with defenses against anti-tank rockets!!! But there was never a shortage for settlers. And it's true, the vast majority are moderate and law-abiding and were probably driven by economic incentives. But their leaders were sometimes anti-statal and got away with it. And a large number of silent Israelis still holds them accountable for the assassination of PM Rabin. I know I will get a lot of hate-filled feedback, but someone has to admit it, we are like two different peoples - settlers value land and religion more than human life and their fanaticism equals that of all other fanatics. While the rest of the Israelis value LIFE and democratic principles. That was the problem, and the lack of communication, settlers did not want to listen to their brethren, they thought they were the chosen among the chosen and failed to learn their biblical lessons. I am a second-generation Holocaust survivor from Lvov, so I will take no shit from nobody concerning that subject!!! The settlers' use of Holocaust symbols was an insult to my family that was murdered in Lvov and in Nazi death camps, so save it! You degraded the victims' memory and should be ashamed of it! Nobody gave you the right or power of attorney to trample on my family's memory for your political goals and religious mindlessness. You got to love your fellow Jews more than this or that piece of land. Never wondered why no-one stood up for you when the settlments were dismantled? And the way your treated our young soldiers and policement - well, did nothing to improve your image, quite the contrary. Face the music! You are a small minority, growing farther and farther apart from the larger majority of Israelis who just want to live a decent life. You distance yourselves, you stay distant.

THE SELF DESTRUCT DOUBLE STANDARD by Yoram Ettinger, January 20, 2006 Illegal Arab construction has become a norm, led by the Palestinian Authority (many PA officials reside in illegal homes), bankrolled by Saudi petrodollars and observed by the wide-closed eyes of Israel. Illegal construction has become an effective means to challenge Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem, to undermine major infrastructure and housing projects in the Negev and Galilee, to limit the freedom/security of Jewish movement along major transportation arteries, to facilitate terrorism and to exacerbate crime. Over 1,000 illegal houses are built annually – by Jerusalem Arabs – since 1997. Only 30-40 are demolished by the authorities. About 10,000 illegal houses are built, annually, by "Green Line" Arabs in the Galilee, Negev, "Triangle", Lod and Ramleh. About 100 are demolished. Since 1967, there has been more Arab residential (largely illegal) construction in Jerusalem than Jewish construction in the capital of the Jewish State. But, Israel is enforcing the law in an iron-fist manner when it comes to a few scores of Jewish houses throughout Judea & Samaria and Hebron (built on a Jewish-registered property, which was ravaged by Arabs in 1929). Legal and governance impotence have characterized Israel's battle against illegal Arab construction, which threatens Israel's sovereignty and the rule of law in Jerusalem and all over the country. Palestinian documents, found at the PLO's "Orient House", highlight illegal construction as a key instrument in the campaign to erode the Jewish character of Jerusalem. According to the documents, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has enticed illegal construction in Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods of Shoafat, Beit Haninah and A-Zaim, in order to prevent continuity between the Jewish neighborhoods of French Hill and Pisgat Ze'ev, and to avert the unification of Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adoumim. Illegal construction is raging along Highway 443, the critical road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, with the aim to transform it into an Arab road, threatening the security of Jewish transportation. While a 1999 Palestinian document anticipated that Israel was determined "to demolish 400-500 illegal houses in Beit Haninah and Shoafat", a 2000 document notified the PA that "no need to worry", since Israel would only demolish a few houses, and illegal construction could proceed with full speed ahead. For instance, illegal construction in the Jerusalem Arab neighborhood of Silwan has been a platform for intensified terrorism and felony. Forging real estate titles has proliferated in the Arab sector, robbing state-owned land as well as privately owned Arab land, fueling extortion, protection, gang-wars and the importation of illegal Arab residents from Hebron and other towns to Jerusalem – a fertile ground for terrorism.

Three MKs were attacked at Amona: Aryeh Eldad, Effie Eitam, and Benny Elon. The faces of the three patriotic Jewish MKs are very well known. The police knew exactly who they were attacking. Arab MK Bishara has called several times for an intifada against Israel. Other Arab MKs support the violent overthrow of Israel. Can Israel's government explain why the government allows Arab MKs to commit TREASON and hate incitement to a second holocaust of Jews, and patriotic Jewish MKs, Ministers of Israel's government are viciously attacked by Israel's police? Peaceful protesters were savagely attacked by police who used all their might in hitting the protesters repeatedly with metal batons. Passive Jewish protesters sustained multiple, serious head wounds. Other victims suffered broken jaws, ribs, and limbs. February 1, 2006, the day recorded in history when on the orders of Olmert/Kadima, 7,000 Israeli police and IDF went to war against Jewish innocents instead of against Israel's barbaric enemies. http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com/Must-Watch

In preparation for the ethnic cleansing of 10,000 Jews from Gaza and north Samaria, millions of dollars were spent in training that involved brainwashing techniques. Soldiers were given specially designed uniforms and hats, backpacks and water canteens. In a ruthless military action on behalf of Road Map architects-US EU UN and PA/PLO, Hamas, Al-Qaida, Hizbullah/Syria/Iran, et al, 10,000 Jews were rendered jobless and homeless by 50,000 IDF and police - 20,000 more than the 30,000 forces sent into Lebanon to fight the war. Israel's leaders sent a powerful message to the terrorists that Jew deportation is Israel's top priority - not Israel's defense. During the war, Prime Minister Olmert declared that the war would pave the way for expelling Jews from Judea and Samaria. Jewish lives and land considered as valueless. The IDF entered the war with old equipment and lacking food and water - reservists lacking training and weapons were expected to fight against Iran's guerrilla army, Hizbullah fully trained and armed with the most advanced, sophisticated military equipment. The U.S. EU UN via the UN resolution were highly successful in preventing the goal vital to Israel's security - eliminating the rocket threat from Lebanon. World leaders are ruthless in repeatedly denying Jews the right to self-defense. JPost.com Israel Aug. 10, 2006 9:55 | Updated Aug. 10, 2006 9:56 US pressure prompts delay of offensive By YAAKOV KATZ AND AP The IDF General Staff postponed the expansion of ground operations in south Lebanon late Wednesday night, after the security cabinet earlier in the day approved a plan for a widened offensive that would take the army to the Litani River, over 20 kilometers from the border, and beyond, in an effort to prevent the incessant Katyusha rocket attacks on northern Israel. The troops were already rolling late Wednesday when they were ordered to halt. It appears heavy US pressure delayed the offensive to allow diplomacy to run its course... "We want an end to violence and we do not want escalations," White House press secretary Tony Snow said Wednesday hours after the Israeli Cabinet approved an expansion of the ground offensive in southern Lebanon.

Persecuted Jewish activists fight against criminal Jew deportation and the installation of global Islamic Terror State Two in Judea and Samaria, a terror state that will threaten the world. Jewish patriots, defenders of the free world, fight a lonely, courageous battle against global jihad. How can the battle for the free world be won when terrorists are the preferred favorites for whom Jews are beaten, their bones broken, Jews jailed, their land stolen and given to the preferred favorites: global jihadists bent on the destruction and subjugation of Israel and the free world? israelnationalnews.com Children Challenge the System by Moshe Dann Aug 14, '06 / 20 Av 5766 This month, two 15-year-old girls, Oriah Shirel and Iska Federman, were released from N'vei Tirza, a maximum security prison in Israel, where they had been kept for eight weeks. Their crime: participating in a demonstration in a neighborhood of Hebron, where they live. Oriya was not charged with any violence or attempted violence; Iska was charged with throwing stones, but there is no proof. Oriah and Iska had come to protest the Israeli government's decision to rebuild a wall abutting the Jewish neighborhood of Avraham Avinu and a playground. On the other side of the wall is an Arab home from which Jews have been attacked... ...Since the evacuation of Jews from their communities in Gaza and northern Samaria, hundreds of Jews have been jailed, some for months, for minor misdemeanors, civil disobedience - many without charges or trials. Recently, in anticipation of the government's unilateral withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, scores of "activists", most with families, have been jailed or given orders preventing them from living in the areas to be evacuated. Hebron, specifically, has had a history of alleged police discrimination against Jews for many years... http://www.israelnationalnews.com/article.php3?id=6464

Three MKs were attacked at Amona: Aryeh Eldad, Effie Eitam, and Benny Elon. The faces of the three patriotic Jewish MKs are very well known. The police knew exactly who they were attacking. Arab MK Bishara has called several times for an intifada against Israel. Other Arab MKs support the violent overthrow of Israel. Can Israel's government explain why the government allows Arab MKs to commit TREASON and hate incitement to a second holocaust of Jews, and patriotic Jewish MKs, Ministers of Israel's government are viciously attacked by Israel's police? Peaceful protesters were savagely attacked by police who used all their might in hitting the protesters repeatedly with metal batons. Passive Jewish protesters sustained multiple, serious head wounds. Other victims suffered broken jaws, ribs, and limbs. February 1, 2006, the day recorded in history when on the orders of Olmert/Kadima, 7,000 Israeli police and IDF went to war against Jewish innocents instead of against Israel's barbaric enemies. http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com/Must-Watch

On the other hand he's right about settlers. The military must react as strongly as necessary against those who live in defiance of the laws of the land and the elected government. Otherwise, you have anarchy, regardless of the cause. What I don't understand is why Israel puts its military in charge of enforcing the laws, instead of ordinary police. It's a bizarre military state policy. In Hawaii when people camp out in a park with caravans where they don't belong we don't send the nearby military after them.

this fellow knows military basics that a 10-year old learns. His attitudes toward his own people, the Jewish settlers (all Jews in Israel are settlers, Jews are supposed to settle the land) show that he has been brainwashed by the toxic ideas that are destroying Israel. Yuo want peace? settle all the land thickly and drive out the Jew-killers

Linda, reading rightwing sources and shouting extremist views here and on other internet fora do not turn you into a better Zionist than me, especially as long as you prefer the fleshpots of NY to the real thing here. Of all the people who left a comment here ( 38 until now, including this one ) 22 are from abroad ( almost all of them from the US and Canada, at least that is what the authors say ), 14 are from Israel and two authors do not say where they are from, but I am willing to bet they are not living here. Of the 22 foreign comments only one ( from Honolulu ) does not attack Colonel Bazak or other Zionists who are not rightwing extremists. Of the 14 Israeli comments 9 were by moderate/liberal/leftwing Zionists. This is obviously not a scientific sample, but it does represent a pattern that can be seen all over this website and on other Israel-related fora. If not for the political fringes in Israel and for the support from Jewish and Christian fundamentalists and fanatics in the US and elsewhere the settlers would hardly have any basis of support left. By the way, Jim from Chicago, did you smoke pot or something? Believe me, there are much better ways to make money in Israel than in the army. If you really served here you should know that. Shimon Peres contributed to Israel's security decades before I was born. Thanks to his efforts in the 1950s we ( do not ) have nuclear deterrence, one of the reasons why Israel still exists and people like you can talk big the way you do. I know the families of one soldier from a TA suburb and two from Haifa who were killed in Lebanon last month, so stop b-s-ing about people from TA not serving. As for Mr Ya'alon, as the predecessor and former commander of Halutz he is just as responsible as ( if not more so than ) the current Chief of Staff for the ways in which the IDF prepared for this war. The excessive reliance on the airforce and the neglect of the rocket threats are concepts that came partly into being under his commandership. If he really believes in what he has been claiming during the last year ( eyeing a minister's post in the next Nethanyahu government, heaven forbid ) he should have resigned long before he was forced to retire by Mofaz and Sharon.

Is this the best we can keep in the army? What ever happened to the great officers that we had ten,twenty years ago? Did we lower our standards?

We need more people on the left who make statements like "we must operate also in the depth of the area and also beyond the fence" and statements like" For an entire month the northern residents were under Katyushas, and this is something we definitely did not provide an answer to." His opinion is more to the right of the centrist OLMERT who did not get rid of the Katyusha threat, did not eliminate resupply of Hizbollah -la la and did not eliminate ALL the bunkers that sit on the border. In addditon, OLMERT ALLOWED UNIFIL TO PREVENT THE CROSS BORDER ACTIVITY WHICH BAZAK SAYS IS ESSENTIAL TO ELIMINATE THE THREAT. Its not such a great revelation that a leftist general doesnt get along with the settlers. This information was overrated and distracted from the essence of the article - THE FAILURE OF THE OLMERT'S ADMINISTRATION OF THE NORTHERN BORDER IN CONTRADICTION TO A SUCCESSFUL POLICY EXISTING IN JUDEA SAMARIA. STAY FOCUSED