Court sentences road-blocker to 2 years

The Tel Aviv District Court sentenced 21-year-old Avraham Levkovich on Sunday to two years in prison and one year probation for planning to block the Ayalon Highway in protest of the disengagement.

Levkovich was convicted of conspiring to commit

a crime and deliberately attempting to endanger human life.

The judge wrote in the verdict that "such behavior reflects a violent and anti-democratic attitude seeking to undermine the government's procedures and disrupt them with violence."

"Society requires protection from possible future actions, motivated by an ideal without considering the principles of democracy and the need to abide by the law," the verdict said.

In May 2005, fellow suspect Mordechai Levinstein conjured a plan to set fire to vehicles along the Ayalon highway during the early morning rush hour.

Levinstein, together with his brother, purchased two second-hand cars and filled them with mattresses and cardboard to soak up the flammable material used to set the cars on fire.

Levkovich joined the two

after hearing about Levinstein's involvement, who was his teacher at the yeshiva where he studied.

The three towed the cars to Tel Aviv and placed them at the Kibbutz Galuyot junction. However, the two cars did not ignite due to a technical malfunction, and police arrested them on the spot.

The two other suspects are still on trial.

Attorney: He is the salt of the earth

Levkovich's attorney Yossi Zilberberg said he would appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court.

"The court did not properly consider the fact that society's cracks must be patched following pullout," he said. "Furthermore, we are speaking about someone with no prior criminal record who cooperated with the police; he is the salt of the earth and was supposed to start medical school this year."

He added that the judge made his decision despite evaluations, which pointed to peer pressure as the reason for Levkovich's behavior and actions.

According to the evaluation, "This conduct is not characteristic of him, who was raised by law-abiding parents who even criticized their son's behavior to his probation officer," he said.

Alon Moreh settlement leader Benny Katzover said in response that the verdict "completely lacks proportion."

"It proves how the judicial system is biased towards those who implemented the pullout plan and its future repercussions. I hope that a court appeal will not be infected with the same phenomena," he said.