‘Hardcore’ Radical Settlers Can Torpedo Peace Push

Peace Threat: Extremist Jewish settlers move into the Palestinian city of Hebron. Image by getty images

By JTA May 9, 2014

Israel’s justice minister and chief negotiator with the Palestinians, Tzipi Livni, said the peace process may fail because of radical settlers.

“This is a hardcore ideological group whose center is in a certain settlement in Judea and Samaria, which does not accept any authority,” Livni, the leader of the Hatnua Party, said Friday in an interview with Army Radio.

She singled out the perpetrators of “price tag” attacks, assaults or cases of intimidation directed at Palestinians, security forces or left-wing Israelis.

“They want to prevent us from leading reasonable lives here and object to the values of the State of Israel, in which we believe,” she said, referring to the perpetrators of “price tag” attacks. “Politically, too, they are the ones who would prevent us [from reaching] a settlement.”

On Thursday, a Nazareth court extended by seven days the remand of a 25-year-old man who was arrested while slashing tires of cars belonging to Arab Israelis. The man, who was not named in reports by Israeli media, is denying any wrongdoing.

A court in Jerusalem on Thursday released the right-wing activist Amihai Matoki, whom police suspect of trying to burn down a mosque in the central city of Umm al Fahm last month.

A third suspect, Eliraz Fein, was released to house arrest pending an investigation into statements that endorse targeting Israeli troops. Police say that Fein, who lives in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar, made them in writing while corresponding online with other settlers.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO