Vigilante Raids Protested by Israeli Peace Activists

TEL AVIV — More than 20,000 Israeli peace activists packed into Tel Aviv’s main square Saturday night to protest a wave of vigilante raids by Jewish settlers in the occupied areas.

Led by the Peace Now movement and dovish members of Parliament, including Labor Party members, they called on the government to crush what they called settler lawlessness.

Military officials confirmed that the army plans to crack down on Jewish settlers who rampage through Arab areas and confront soldiers.

“If the state of Israel does not rise up and arrest them now, perhaps not too far away will be the day they will arrest us,” Israeli novelist Amos Oz told the demonstrators at Kings of Israel Square.

Hundreds of participants held placards picturing settler leader Rabbi Moshe Levinger brandishing a pistol. It read: “They Shoot and Laugh.”

Levinger, one of the first Jews to move to the West Bank city of Hebron in 1968, has been charged with manslaughter in the killing of an Arab merchant.

Hundreds of police officers and paramilitary border police were on duty in case of trouble. But there were no counterprotests by pro-settlement groups, and the demonstrators dispersed peacefully.

Frustrated by Arabs throwing stones and firebombs, some settlers have raided villages, often shooting at random. A teen-age Arab girl was shot and killed in a raid earlier this week.

Settlers Criticized

Israeli army reservists serving in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip criticized the settlers for failing to respect the army. They said that attacks on soldiers would lead to anarchy.

“One thing must be clear to all sides--the sole authority for maintaining law and order in the territories, regarding both Arab and Jewish residents, is the army,” Lt. Col. Ronnie Trinan told Israel Radio.

Israel Radio said the army may confine leading Jewish troublemakers to their towns or bar them from entering Palestinian communities.

Meanwhile, the army imposed an indefinite curfew on the occupied Gaza Strip on Saturday night.