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Kidnapping highlights Israelis' surrender to settlers

It is natural that the kidnapping of three Israeli youths would generate solidarity among the public, but it also raises the question of why peace-loving secular Israelis have let themselves be dragged along for years, from clash to clash, by a nationalistic messianic minority.
A Jewish settler reacts as she stands atop the roof of a temporary structure before Israeli policemen demolish it in the West Bank Jewish settler outpost of Maale Rehavam, near Bethlehem May 14, 2014.  Some seven structures were razed on Wednesday by Israeli border police officers and no injuries or arrests were made during the incidences, a police spokesman said on Wednesday. The structures were demolished as part of Israel's continuing effort to remove settlements built without government authorization. R
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On June 17, I took part in a discussion about settlements at a conference sponsored by the state prosecutor’s office in Modi’in. The event was attended by dozens of prosecutors from all over Israel.

The first speaker was the journalist Israel Harel, a resident of the Ofra settlement and a veteran of the Gush Emunim settlement movement. Harel praised the settlement enterprise and rejected the right of the “Arabs in Judea and Samaria” — the word “Palestinians” never crossed his lips — to an independent state. Harel’s remarks were greeted with exemplary silence. No heckling. Not a single critical comment.

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