Middle East Fighting Fire with Fire

By JON D. HULL HEBRON

The Jewish settlers of the West Bank are not easily moved. Despite 18 months of rebellion by Palestinians who also lay claim to the land, most of the settlers are more determined than ever to stay put. But they are less sure about the government's commitment. Angered by the failure of the Israeli army to put down the uprising and its inability to provide them with sufficient protection from the daily onslaught of stones, some of the settlers have launched an intifadeh of their own. Hard-core extremists, numbering several thousand, have organized a vicious campaign of retaliation against Palestinian villages that is inflaming hatred, threatening to escalate the violence racking the Holy Land, and bringing the settlers into dangerous confrontation with the Israeli army itself.

Chaim Waldman is one of the self-proclaimed vigilantes. A zealous American Jew who moved to the West Bank from Columbus, Ohio, seven years ago, Waldman considers himself a part-time commando waging a messianic struggle against his Palestinian neighbors. "When I go out in my car, I'm hunting for Arabs," says the 37-year-old engineer. "I put a bullet in the chamber of my M-16 and keep it pointed out the window with the safety off." He deliberately shifts his Peugeot station wagon into low gear as he enters Palestinian villages to steady his aim in the event of attack. "There is a Jewish intifadeh now, and it can't be stopped," he says. "We're headed for war."

Waldman is an eager participant in the wave of retaliatory raids now igniting the occupied territories. Last month three dozen settlers went on a rampage in the Palestinian village of Kifl Harith, near Nablus, smashing and burning property, shooting animals and spraying houses with hundreds of rounds of automatic fire. A 16-year-old Palestinian girl was killed by stray bullets as she hid in her home. The Arab city of Hebron is a frequent target of Jewish raiders from nearby Kiryat Arba. Daily patrols of heavily armed settlers cruise the streets to prove they can still move freely around the city.

Nothing short of mass expulsion will satisfy the more radical settlers. "The Jews who live here should be decorated for their patience," says Aharon Domb, 32, who runs a yeshiva in Hebron. From his bulging briefcase he pulls out an assortment of Palestinian weapons: rocks, metal spears, and spikes designed to rupture tires. By his count, 541 vehicles were damaged and 30 Jews injured in Hebron during April and May alone. "Look at what we have to live with," he says, displaying pictures of broken windshields and bleeding faces. "We accept that settling the land of Israel requires suffering, but this is too much."

To defend themselves, the settlers often travel in convoys and maintain radio contact with situation rooms back home. They get army escorts to guard ! Jewish buses in the territories, and have persuaded the government to subsidize car owners who purchase shatterproof windows. However settlers travel, army-issued weapons are always within reach.

But the extremists prefer an aggressive offense and conduct paramilitary patrols to protect and punish. Waldman describes their crude tactics: "After an Arab attack, we send out an alert, jump into our cars and head for the area. Then we destroy and burn." Already these vigilantes have killed at least 15 Palestinians, while one Jewish settler has been murdered by Arabs. Waldman, who took a sniper's course in the U.S. Army, won't comment on whether he is responsible for any of the deaths, but confides, "Arabs have good reason to fear me."

Soldiers who dare to intervene have been threatened and harassed -- or merely ignored. When dozens of troops attempted to block vigilantes leaving Kiryat Arba, the settlers slipped out on foot or by back roads. Last week police arrested Hebron resident David Axelrod on charges of physically assaulting soldiers, but the army has generally been frustrated in its efforts to keep the vengeful settlers under control. Major General Amram Mitzna, who heads Israeli forces in the West Bank, has asked the government to "help us by stopping the settlers' incitement against the Israel Defense Forces." He warns, "We are in an explosive situation because of settler actions."

But Israel's hard-line leaders are reluctant to criticize the behavior of their fellow nationalists across the "green line." Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir concedes that "no one is entitled to take the law into his own hands" but reserves his sympathy for the settlers' plight. Foreign Minister Moshe Arens praises West Bank Jews as the "frontline obstacle to the establishment of a Palestinian state." Still, the government hopes to cool off the settlers with a series of tough new measures against Arab demonstrators. Last week Chief of Staff Dan Shomron requested an amendment that would allow him to deport Palestinians before their appeals are heard. The Defense Ministry also asked lawmakers to double the period of detention without trial from six months to twelve months.

The army insists it will punish Jews who break the law. But Palestinians say soldiers often stand by idly when settlers attack Arabs. Rafik, 31, who won't disclose his full name for fear of retaliation, recalls an attack on his home in the village of Halhul two weeks ago. Just as the family was finishing breakfast, five heavily armed men stepped from a car with Israeli license plates and unleashed a barrage of insults and indiscriminate gunfire. "It was an expression of raw hatred," says Rafik, pointing to broken windows and mirrors and a dozen bullet holes in the wall. When the army arrived, the settlers fled and soldiers fired several rounds of rubber bullets at the stunned Palestinians as they emerged from their house. "This violence and humiliation make it difficult to believe we can ever live together," he says.

Most settlers realize that Jewish vigilantism makes for bad public relations at the least, but some Israelis fear the extremists have something more drastic in mind. As they see it, the situation will ultimately deteriorate into a full-scale war, what the more rabid call the "Big Bang," enabling Israel to expel the West Bank's 980,000 Arabs. Explains Domb: "Killing Arabs doesn't help our cause. That's why we talk about expulsions. It's more humane."

What motivates many of these settlers is fear of a political solution based on territorial compromise. The most radical will fight that to the death. Vows Waldman: "If Israeli soldiers ever try to remove us, I'll go into the hills and fight a guerrilla war." His Arab neighbors can already attest to his brutal determination.