Jewish settlements council to debate relations to extremist right

The council of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has decided to debate whether relations with extreme right wing activists should continue or not.

Council spokesman Aharon Domb reportedly prepared a letter in which he strongly condemned actions carried out by right wing extremists such as Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben Gvir, both hard line members of the fanatic Kach movement. "Tens of thousands of shekels (Israeli currency) and explanation efforts became worthless following statements by Marzel and Ben-Gvir," Domb wrote in his assessment of the relations between his council and those extreme right wing settlers.

Marzel was recently arrested by the Israeli police for threatening to kill four Palestinian police officers but was later released. The benign policy adopted by Israel, Palestinians argue, has made it possible for Marzel and his alike to continue their provocations against Palestinians without being deterred by the Israeli authorities. A report recently issued by observers from the Temporary International Police in Hebron, TIPH, noted that the settlers in Hebron have between the months of April and July increased their provocative attacks on Palestinians as well as on the observers themselves, who were branded Nazis by those settlers.