As Israel decided to further arm the settlers by providing them with stun grenades and tear gas bombs, the settlers, supported by extremist right wing factions in Israel, are preparing a plan to “respond to any popular Palestinian move that will likely take place as the Palestinian leadership asks the United Nations this month to recognize a Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital.Extremist right-wing factions in Israel are preparing a plan dubbed “children against children, women and women”, as part of settlers’ activities and attacks against the unnamed Palestinian population in the West Bank and in occupied East Jerusalem.
Jewish settlers, illegally living in the occupied territories, are a largely armed population and well trained for combat situations.
The settlers currently own more than half a million automatic rifles, and practically unlimited amounts of ammunition.
A number of fundamentalist settler organizations confirmed that the preparations started last month, and that plans to attack Palestinian areas are already in place to contain the anticipated Palestinian popular activities.
Such plans will most certainly lead to direct confrontation with the Palestinians, while a large number of casualties is a likely scenario.
The main figure behind the settlers’ plans to attack the occupied territories is Member of Knesset, Michael Ben-Ari, of the extremist National Union Party (Ichud Leumi) along with extremist settlers, especially from the Hilltop Youth Movement, and supporters of the outlawed Kahane Chai movement, the splinter group of Kach terrorist group.
It is worth mentioning that the current Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, used to be affiliated with Kach movement, and when he became a Knesset member, including when he served as the Minister of Strategic Affairs, he always called for the expulsion of all Arabs and Palestinians from the country, and considered them a “demographic threat to Israel”.
The eight-page plan includes instructions regarding operations in Palestinian cities and villages in the West Bank and in Jerusalem.
Its main slogan is “let’s transform September from a threat to a historic opportunity to change the rules of the game”.
It also states that “should the UN officially recognize a Palestinian independent state, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians will take off to the streets, to celebrate, and they might approach the settlements”, and adds, “Unarmed Palestinian women and children will lead the processions heading to the settlements, this will push the Israeli soldiers to open fire at them, and this issue will lead to a full collapse in the security situation, and the Palestinians will resume their attacks against the settlements”.
Therefore, part of the plan is to have settler women confront Palestinian women, and settler children confront Palestinian children. The male settlers, heavily armed, will then “deal with the Palestinian male population of protestors”.
MK Michael Ben-Ari stated that despite assurances from the army “to protect all settlements”, and maintain clam, “the army remains a protective entity and not a political one”, and added “therefore, we will initiate our plans; we will make our own decisions”.
Despite the settlers preparations and plans to attack popular protests in the
occupied territories, especially after a leaked report revealed the “Operation Summer Seeds” that was prepared by the army, and includes providing further arms for the settlers, the army “condemned settler plans to attack the Palestinians”.
Israel daily, Haaretz, released a leaked document that states that the army distributed maps with red lines drawn on them around Israeli settlements in the West Bank, with instructions to soldiers that if Palestinian protesters get too close to the settlements, they should be shot in the legs.
The instructions do not differentiate between non-violent demonstrations by Palestinians and violent attacks by Palestinians, instead implying that non-violent demonstrators would be subjected to being shot in the legs if they cross a ‘line’ whose location has not been shared with any Palestinians.
Israeli settlers in the occupied territories are already responsible for hundreds of attacks against the Palestinians, especially several West Bank villages, and have already torched hundreds of Dunams of Palestinian farmlands, and even torched mosques after desecrating them.
The settler population in the occupied territories is a largely armed population, and besides its frequent, and in many cases deadly attacks, against the Palestinians, the settlers even attacked Israeli soldiers trying to evacuate illegal settlements.
