Word: palestinians
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Jewish settlers of the West Bank are not easily moved. Despite 18 months of rebellion by Palestinians who also lay claim to the land, most of the settlers are more determined than ever to stay put. But they are less sure about the government's commitment. Angered by the failure of the Israeli army to put down the uprising and its inability to provide them with sufficient protection from the daily onslaught of stones, some of the settlers have launched an intifadeh of their own. Hard-core extremists, numbering several thousand, have organized a vicious campaign of retaliation against Palestinian...
Chaim Waldman is one of the self-proclaimed vigilantes. A zealous American Jew who moved to the West Bank from Columbus, Ohio, seven years ago, Waldman considers himself a part-time commando waging a messianic struggle against his Palestinian neighbors. "When I go out in my car, I'm hunting for Arabs," says the 37-year-old engineer. "I put a bullet in the chamber of my M-16 and keep it pointed out the window with the safety off." He deliberately shifts his Peugeot station wagon into low gear as he enters Palestinian villages to steady...
Waldman is an eager participant in the wave of retaliatory raids now igniting the occupied territories. Last month three dozen settlers went on a rampage in the Palestinian village of Kifl Harith, near Nablus, smashing and burning property, shooting animals and spraying houses with hundreds of rounds of automatic fire. A 16-year-old Palestinian girl was killed by stray bullets as she hid in her home. The Arab city of Hebron is a frequent target of Jewish raiders from nearby Kiryat Arba. Daily patrols of heavily armed settlers cruise the streets to prove they can still move freely around...
Nothing short of mass expulsion will satisfy the more radical settlers. "The Jews who live here should be decorated for their patience," says Aharon Domb, 32, who runs a yeshiva in Hebron. From his bulging briefcase he pulls out an assortment of Palestinian weapons: rocks, metal spears, and spikes designed to rupture tires. By his count, 541 vehicles were damaged and 30 Jews injured in Hebron during April and May alone. "Look at what we have to live with," he says, displaying pictures of broken windshields and bleeding faces. "We accept that settling the land of Israel requires suffering...
...fellow nationalists across the "green line." Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir concedes that "no one is entitled to take the law into his own hands" but reserves his sympathy for the settlers' plight. Foreign Minister Moshe Arens praises West Bank Jews as the "frontline obstacle to the establishment of a Palestinian state." Still, the government hopes to cool off the settlers with a series of tough new measures against Arab demonstrators. Last week Chief of Staff Dan Shomron requested an amendment that would allow him to deport Palestinians before their appeals are heard. The Defense Ministry also asked lawmakers to double...