Civil War in Israel?

A group of settlers is planning a civil revolt, which could develop into violence, in response to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw settlements from the entire Gaza Strip and some of the West Bank, a leader of the revolt told WND.

The small group of leaders held a series of meetings to discuss plans to disrupt the unilateral withdrawal in 2005, including some actions that could start as early as this month.

"We have plans for a civil revolt, which is going to include stopping traffic and causing traffic jams, no more paying of taxes, cutting down the fences the IDF will try to put up to keep us from our land, having people lie down in the streets and block bulldozers, and disobeying orders from the Israeli authorities," an operational leader in the planned revolt who asked that his name be withheld told WND.

But he conceded the revolt could easily turn violent: "Of course, the part of the world we live in is dangerous, most of us are armed. We are not going to shoot first at anyone, but if the IDF opens fire at us, believe me, we are going to shoot back."

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The leader would not divulge names of who participated in the meetings, but said, "I am sure Israeli intelligence already knows of everyone there and every word we spoke."

"The general idea is that if Sharon is not democratic, then we also don't have to be democratic," Itamar Ben-Gvir, who also participated in the meetings, told reporters. Ben-Gvir is an activist in the Kach movement, which was started by Jewish Defense League founder Meir Kahane.

"Follow [Defense Minister Shaul] Mofaz, day and night, for a week," Ben-Gvir said. "Wherever he goes, you should be there shouting. And not just against Mofaz – against all the mafia, against all the dictators."

On Sunday, Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter warned of growing extremism among opponents to Sharon's plan. In his briefing to government ministers, Dichter cited an example of the infighting he fears in Israel.

A military chaplain who earlier this year oversaw the dismantling of an illegal outpost outside the West Bank settlement of Kfar Tapuach, home to some of the leaders of the Kach movement, paid a price personally, Dichter said. The rabbi, a lieutenant colonel in the military's Central Command, was physically assaulted while walking with his wife in Jerusalem.

Dichter blamed the Kach movement for that incident.

Ben-Gvir, who was recently convicted on charges of supporting a terrorist organization, said, "The state should be afraid of the possibility of the eruption of violence."

There have been religious aspects to the calls for violence, as well. Last week, Avigdor Nebenzahl, prominent rabbi of the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem's Old City, declared that anyone giving away a part of the land of Israel is a "rodef" – someone whom it is permissible or required by Jewish law to kill before he kills.

Similar rabbinic proclamations were heard following the signing of the Oslo Accords, which some say may have been a motivating factor for Yigal Amir, the man who assassinated Yizhak Rabin.

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Knesset members scheduled a discussion of anti-incitement regulations for later this week, and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz says he will hold deliberations on whether laws against Jewish ideological vigilantism should be more strictly enforced.

Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, told WND: "Should the government go ahead with the forceable removal of Jewish residents of Gaza, intra-Israeli violence appears to be a distinct possibility. Which in turn makes me wonder why the Israeli authorities do not take quite a different track and merely stop providing security for them."

There are separate, peaceful protests planned for the next few months. Volunteers and settler leaders met in Jerusalem yesterday to plan a human chain of 150,000 people to stretch from the Western Wall to the Gush Katif settlement. At one end will be Shmuel Cahane, who founded a settlement in 1946, and at the other end will be a girl from Gush Katif who will insert a note into the Wall.

The chain is to take place July 25, which is the Jewish fast day of Tisha B'Av, the anniversary of the destruction of the First and the Second Temples, and a date upon which many tragedies befell the Jewish people.

"This chain is an unambiguous statement that we are not prepared to bring about additional destruction and the expulsion of Jews from their land," organizer Dror Vanunu said.

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