Standing on the summit of Mount Kabir in Samaria on Monday, April 7, 792 meters (a half-mile) above sea level, we could make out the mountains of Gilboa through the thick mist. The Jewish settlement Elon Moreh lies on the slopes of Mount Kabir, next to the city of Nablus. The settlement’s distinctive red roofs fill the nearby landscape like some pastoral village scene. It's one of the oldest symbols of the entire settlement enterprise.

We climbed the mountain at noon, together with Benny Katzover, chairman of the Samaria Settlers’ Committee and a founder of Elon Moreh. Among the general public, Katzover is one of the people most identified with the Gush Emunim settlement movement, which could be called the DNA of the settlement enterprise. He arrived in Hebron when he was 21, and a short time after that he got married. His wedding was the first Jewish wedding to take place in Hebron since the riots of 1929. He later became a leader of the settlement umbrella organization Yesha Council, the political front for the settlements, and served as head of the Samaria Regional Council.

The sense of security that has been characteristic of Judea and Samaria for the past few years was recently disturbed by incidents of severe violence, perpetrated by the residents of the Yitzhar settlement against Israel Defense Forces soldiers. It began with the stoning of a vehicle belonging to an officer, who works for the Israeli Civil Administration. This was followed with the puncturing of the tires of a jeep belonging to the brigade commander of the sector, and evolved into a most serious incident, when the post manned by reservists protecting the settlement was attacked. The cause of all this was the demolition of illegally constructed buildings in Yitzhar. It crossed a red line, a disorderly and very troubling rampage, more like the kind of behavior expected in the Wild West. This violence posed a real challenge to the traditional balances in place between the army and the settlers.

Katzover was unequivocal when asked how he felt about the violent outburst in the settlement of Yitzhar and the assault on soldiers and officers: “Anyone who harms the brigade commander harms us as well. I consider the whole thing to be disgraceful. Yitzhar has a long history of rebellious behavior, though they have managed to get rid of some of the problematic figures there. Still, based on the laws of this country, it is impossible to expel all of them. Obviously, I disapprove of what happened. It’s not how we educate here, and it’s not characteristic of the settlements in Judea and Samaria. They are causing a lot of damage to us, ” he said.