Comments (0)Amid West Bank Clashes, Bibi Defends Freeze
December 12, 2009Jerusalem
JTA Wire Service
Right-wing activists clashed with building inspectors and police as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the settlement construction freeze.
Israeli police on Sunday removed 100 right-wing activists, including local residents, girls from a local religious high school and city officials who had blocked roads near the West Bank settlement of Kedumim to prevent Civil Administration inspectors from entering the community to issue stop-work orders.
One demonstrator was arrested. The inspectors entered the settlement through a back entrance via a neighboring Palestinian village, according to reports.
Early that morning, a house and two tractors were set on fire in a West Bank Palestinian village near Nablus in an incident that police believe was caused by extremists in response to the construction freeze, according to reports. The Palestinian family of 12, which is now homeless, filed a complaint with the Civil Administration.
Netanyahu at the start of Sunday’s weekly Cabinet meeting said the decision to establish a 10-month freeze on construction in West Bank settlements “has to do with the heart of the homeland of the Jewish people. It has to do with settlers, Israelis who are our brothers; they are part of us and we are part of them.
“The decision was made because we see it as serving broader interests, perhaps the State of Israel’s broadest interests. Today it is clear even to those who were unclear previously—those who want peace and those who are currently acting as refusers of peace. The State of Israel wants peace in the clearest possible sense.”
Netanyahu stressed that the freeze “is a one-time and temporary decision, not a freeze of unlimited and infinite duration.”
Guards Kill Israeli Entering Gaza
An Israeli civilian trying to enter the Gaza Strip by climbing a border fence was shot and killed by Israeli guards.
The man attempted to cross into Gaza near the main Erez crossing at about 2 a.m. Monday. He died in the hospital of the gunshot wounds. Israeli citizens are banned from entering Gaza.
Border guards “identified a man running towards the crossing and trying to climb the security fence,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. “They called on him to stop and fired warning shots in the air. When he did not heed their calls they fired towards his lower body.”
Police sappers were called to make sure the man was not carrying explosives.
It is not known why the man, said to be in his 30s, attempted to get into Gaza. The statement said the man, an Israeli citizen, reportedly was mentally ill.
Israel Taps New Attorney General
A renowned Tel Aviv defense lawyer whose clients have included Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Olmert was appointed Israel’s next attorney general.
Yehuda Weinstein, 65, was tapped unanimously Sunday by the Cabinet and will assume his six-year post on Feb. 1.
He succeeds Menachem Mazuz, who received praise from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“You did exemplary work in very difficult conditions,” Netanyahu told Mazuz Sunday at the weekly Cabinet meeting. “You acted with great wisdom—of both mind and heart. You are worthy of esteem for your actions.”
Weinstein opened a private practice in 1979 after serving as a senior deputy prosecutor for the Tel Aviv District.
Considered an expert in white-collar crime, Weinstein has defended such high-profile clients as Netanyahu and his predecessor as prime minister, Olmert, as well as ex-President Ezer Weizmann and former Shas Party chairman Aryeh Deri.
Mazuz is set to make a decision in coming weeks on whether to indict Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on charges of fraud and graft. If the final decision falls to Weinstein, he could recuse himself since he has a connection to the case.
Justice Minister Yaakov Ne’eman had picked Weinstein from among four candidates named last month by a special five-member search committee after the panel could not arrive at a decision. Weinstein was the only candidate to receive votes from the committee’s left and right.
This story reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.