TEL AVIV, Israel, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- A ministerial committee Monday decided to upgrade efforts to enforce law and order among West Bank settlers.
Some 250,000 settlers live in the West Bank and the Israeli police spokesman there, Superintendent Moshe Fintzy told United Press International that last year they opened 600 files against offending settlers. He maintained the figure is low mainly because they lack manpower. Some 1,000 Israeli policemen serve in the West Bank, an area slightly smaller than Delaware. Israeli policemen handle also Palestinian security and criminal offences carried out in the Israeli controlled areas, he said. Those areas cover 80 percent of the West Bank.
Some settlers have long been accused of flouting the law and clashing with Arabs. Israelis became much more aware of it when a settler at Tel Rumeida, in Hebron, put her face against in iron mesh fence surrounding her Arab neighbor's home and kept taunting her "sharmuta," (whore). An Arab woman filmed the event; the tape was broadcast on Israeli TV, and caused a backlash.
The ministers decided to post policemen in the "friction zones," train the force and deploy it there for prolonged periods. The government will also make more use of its authority to order trouble makes out of the area and will act against state-subsidized institutions that are "centers of incitement," the Defense Minister's media adviser reported.
Officials will now try to determine how many policemen will be needed.
Settlers reacted angrily and their council said the defense establishment should focus on existential problems facing terror and strategic threats and not create hatred and divisiveness in the nation."
Increasing the number of banishment orders would be a "ruthless move." If there is evidence against an offender, he should be tried, spokeswoman Emili Amrusi said.
