A Tragic Flaw

When arsonists attacked a mosque at Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem, they left behind singed copies of the Koran and burned prayer rugs alongside graffiti messages that announced “revenge,” “a mosque must be burned,” and “price tag.” “Price tag” is a term used by radical settlers who say they are determined to exact a price in violence should the possibility of Israeli territorial withdrawals arise. Local residents told Israeli authorities they saw an Israeli vehicle driving away from the town as the fire was discovered in the early hours of the morning. 

Alongside its report of the attack, Israeli television also broadcast disheartening footage of adults gathering young children at the mosque and leading them in shouting anti-Semitic slogans. The reactions of some regional religious leaders were equally depressing. The highest Muslim official on the West Bank the PA’s Grand Mufti. indulging in rank demagoguery claimed, without evidence, that Israeli officials condoned the crime and were protecting the perpetrators. I heard a radio broadcast of an interview with the rabbi of a West Bank settlement who condemned the arson, but offhandedly described Islam in derogatory terms. 
On the other hand, Israel’s Minister of Defense was quick to respond and appropriately harsh in his condemnation: “Whoever carried out this act is a terrorist in every sense of the word, and their intention was to hurt the chances for peace and dialogue with the Palestinians.” A group of rabbis from nearby Gush Etzion settlements visited Beit Fajjar to apologize, expressing “deep shame” and delivering a crate of Korans to replace those destroyed. 

There have actually been several arson attacks against West Bank mosques over the last year, but no arrests. Police and General Security Service spokespersons explain that small, fanatic groups are notoriously hard to discover, investigate and bring to justice, but they insist they are committed to catching the criminals. As an example of their perseverance, they can point to a case involving the murders of several Palestinians in the 1990s. The GSS and police kept the investigation alive, and just recently an extremist settler was arrested and charged.

Nobody credibly ascribes the Beit Fajjar arson to mainstream settlers. Violence of this type is confined to a small group of extremists. Indeed, this attack was likely intended to deliver a threatening message to Israeli society as much as to Muslim Palestinians: after all, the graffiti was in Hebrew. Such violence, although not representative of the settlers as a whole, confirms their appalling public image and undercuts one of their primary political arguments, the claim that their presence on the West Bank does not necessarily contradict the ideal of Israel as both a Jewish and democratic state. 

It is cause for concern that despite the laudable example of the Gush Etzion rabbis, the overall response of settler leadership has been lackadaisical. Focused on the question of the building moratorium, they showed little interest in the arson. They convened no gathering of heads of municipalities to discuss educational programs against bigotry; issued no call to their constituents to cooperate with the security services; and made no pledges themselves to root out the extremist element in their midst. 

This lax attitude of the mainstream settler leadership points up an ongoing tragic flaw in the West Bank settler enterprise. For decades, the leadership has passively tolerated extremist actions by a violent minority, thus enabling it to continue largely unchecked. Whatever one’s opinion on the settlements in general–and on this Israeli society is deeply divided–a solid consensus refuses to tolerate the intolerable. If it does not adopt strong measures, the settler leadership may find the violence swamping the settler project itself.

First published at http://bit.ly/Tn9ia5