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06.09.04, 04:55
Palestinians are being terrorised by the hardline group
Israeli media have exposed a para-military Jewish group that has been
terrorising Palestinian civilians in the West Bank with full knowledge and
tacit approval of the Israeli army.
State-run Israeli radio, Reshet Bet, announced on Sunday that members of the
group, known as the "Hebrew Brigade," are armed with automatic rifles and
equipped with jeeps and vicious attack dogs.
Quoting unidentified security sources, the radio said the group is made up of
dozens of erstwhile cadres of the Kach movement, the "terrorist group"
founded by Rabbi Meir Kahana and dedicated to the destruction of the
Palestinian community in Israel, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East
Jerusalem.
Kahana, a one-time member of the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, called for
the "extirpation" or "extermination" of non-Jews in Israel and the occupied
territories, following the example of the ancient Israelites who ethnically
cleansed the Canaanites as narrated by the Old Testament.
Kahana also advocated that democracy and Judaism were completely incompatible
and that non-Jews could never attain equality in a truly Jewish state.
Kach had been declared a "terrorist group" by both Israel and the United
States.
In 1995, a member of Kach named Egal Amir assassinated former Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin for signing the Oslo Accords with the Palestine
Liberation Organisation.
Ideological affinity
However, since Ariel Sharon came to power in Israel in 2001, the Israeli
government, and especially the powerful military establishment, has been
dealing rather leniently with Kach and similar extreme right-wing groups,
ostensibly because of the ideological affinity between the Likud, Sharon's
Party, and the far-right parties.
Ariel Sharon is said to be allowing
Jewish extremists to operate
A Hebrew newspaper, the Ma'ariv, only a week ago published a report on the
resurfacing vigilante group last week.
The Kach vigilantes, as they are commonly known, erect surprise roadblocks
and checkpoints on roads used by Palestinian motorists, using attack dogs,
the newspaper reported.
Sometimes, the extremists reportedly serve as a "back-up force"
by "assisting" the army in "keeping law and order" by harassing Palestinian
civilians.
Blackmail
Some members of the well-organised group have reportedly threatened and
blackmailed Israeli security officers living in their respective settlements.
The Israeli army has acknowledged, rather begrudgingly, the existence of the
group but denied that it was operating under its supervision.
However, Eitan Arusi, an army spokesperson confirmed that "those people
operate within the settlements and their main function is to prevent
Palestinians from infiltrating their respective communities".
Arusi told Aljazeera.net that the army was ultimately responsible for the
activities of the vigilantes.
Arusi's statements, however, were contradicted by another army spokesman,
quoted earlier by Israeli radio, who sought to distance the army from the
group.
Extremists, killers
A number of Israeli Knesset members have castigated the Israeli government
for allowing the extremists to function.
"These are a bunch of killers and vile terrorists, I can't understand why our
government allows them to function freely in the streets of the West Bank,"
said Ran Cohen, a member of the newly-founded neo-leftist party, Yahad.
Cohen, who described the group as a dangerous militia, called on the Israeli
justice system to force the government to outlaw the group and end their
activities.
One Israeli legal expert, Moshe Hangbi, accused the Israeli government
of "indulging in a serious breach of the law".
"This terrorist organisation (Kach) is supposed to be outside the confines of
the law since it was outlawed and declared a terrorist organisation in 1994,"
he said.
"The fact that it is allowed to function flies in the face of Israeli
authorities," Hangbi added.
Attacks and massacres
"...a thousand non-Jewish lives are not worth a Jew's fingernail..."
Talmudic edict,
utilised by Kach terrorist group and Gush Emunim settler movement
Kach has a long record of attacking and harrassing Palestinian civilians.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the right-wing extremists placed bombs in
the cars of three Palestinian mayors, causing the legs of the former mayor of
Nablus, Bassam Shaka'a to be amputated.
In 1982, two armed men belonging to Kach movement, attacked the campus of the
University of Hebron with machineguns and hand grenades, killing and injuring
dozens of students.
Also in the early 1980s, Kach members sought to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque in
Jerusalem, using ground-to-ground missiles allegedly 'stolen' from Israeli
army barracks.
The bloodiest act against Palestinians by the movement took place in 1994
when Baruch Goldstein, an American immigrant, cold bloodedly murdered 29
unarmed worshippers while praying at the Ibrahimi Mosque in downtown Hebron.
The worshippers were searched and had to pass through metal detectors before
entering the prayer area.
Justification
The Kach leadership, along with the leaders of the settler movement of Gush
Emunim, then enthusiastically supported the massacre, evoking a Talmudic
edict that a thousand non-Jewish lives are not worth a Jew's fingernail.
Since the beginning of the intifada four years ago, extremists affiliated
with Kach and other right-wing groups, such as "Kahana Hay" (Kahana is
alive), have killed and injured hundreds of Palestinian civilians.
The same groups have also planned and carried out attacks on Arab schools in
East Jerusalem and the Hebron region.
