The anniversary of the return of Sinai to Egypt and the danger of extremist Jewish settlers were the focus of Doaa El-Bey and Rasha Saad The provocative march by extremist Jewish settlers through the Palestinian town of Silwan was the focus of pundits this week. In 'Israel's messianic terrorists', Patrick Seale noted that barely a week goes by without news of some act of violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. In the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper, Seale argues that by any definition, what settlers and other religious activists do to Palestinians is terrorism but it goes unpunished. Seale explains that the settlers have a new and brutal policy. They have declared that for every attempt by the authorities to rein them in, they will exact a price in violence against the Palestinians -- a "price tag", they call it. This fact, according to Seale, threatens the very existence of peace in the region. "Unless Israel's fanatical settlers -- both religious- nationalist and ultra-orthodox -- are confronted, and their messianic ambitions tamed, there will be no peace in the Middle East," Seale wrote. Seale cited a recent study by the International Crisis Group (ICG) which outlines the extent of this danger. The ICG reports that tens of thousands of religious Zionists inhabit illegal settlements east of the separation barrier on the West Bank and thousands more occupy armed outposts deep in Palestinian territory where they operate some 200 paramilitary squads, armed with automatic weapons and even armoured vehicles. The report warns that these settlers perpetrate violence against the Palestinians and are ready to defy any attempt by the state to stop them. "It is surely time for Israel's secular majority to wake up to the danger or risk of finding itself living in a state run by messianic terrorists and shunned by the whole world," Seale wrote. In its editorial, the Omani Al-Watan newspaper wrote that "the provocative march of Jewish extremist settlers into the Palestinian town of Silwan in occupied east Jerusalem is further evidence that Israel is unwilling to get seriously engaged in a peace process." With permission from the Israeli attorney- general, settlers marched through Silwan, carrying large Israeli flags and chanting slogans against what they called the "illegal construction" in the city and calling for their evacuation. The march coincided with the regional tour of US peace envoy George Mitchell. The target, Al-Watan says, is to force Palestinians into confrontations to make Mitchell's tour a failure and to show that the Palestinians are a source of disturbance and worry to settlers. Al-Watan reminded readers of a similar Israeli pattern when Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu took the opportunity during a visit by US Vice-President Joe Biden to discuss resumption of negotiations -- and to announce plans for the construction of 1,600 additional homes in an east Jerusalem settlement. The United Arab Emirates' newspaper Al-Bayan highlighted statements by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas calling on the US to impose a two-state solution on Israel if it genuinely believes in the establishment of a Palestinian state. In its editorial, Al-Bayan described the statement as "a legitimate call that carries as much defiance as rejection of the series of unfruitful negotiations". The editorial explained that the president's statement is a result of long years of suffering and frustration which started with the Oslo accords. In Al-Hayat, Raghida Dergham focussed on the latest tension in the relationship between the US and Syria resulting from accusations that Damascus was providing Hizbullah with Scud missiles. The accusations were denied by Syria but confirmed by Israel. Dergham wrote that signs coming from Washington point to the fact that the US administration will not stand in Israel's way if it is proven beyond doubt that advanced missiles have reached Hizbullah, regardless of whether these missiles came from Syria or from Iran. According to Dergham, in both cases, Syria would be deeply involved in the crisis. However in "What does Israel want from escalation against Syria?" Dergham does not exclude the possibility that the whole issue was fabricated by Israel. "If the issue of the missiles has been 'fabricated' as Syria claims, having categorically denied Israel's accusations, the questions is: what does Israel want from such escalation against Syria, and not just against Hizbullah?" Dergham asked. Offering an explanation, Dergham wrote that Israel today has put itself in a corner and brought international isolation upon itself. Its deteriorating relations with the US administration have led to divisions within the circle of its supporters in Jewish-American organisations and to heating up the voice of a part of US public opinion. Moreover, Dergham explains, the US military institution has grown restless towards Israel because it finds in its rejection of peace and its insistence on moving forward with occupation, settlement building, oppression, assassinations, targeting of civilians, destruction of homes and expulsions, policies which are harmful to the national interest of the US. Moreover, Dergham continues, the US military institution is waging wars against extremism in numerous parts of the Muslim world, and the measures taken by Israel are feeding extremism, strengthening it and setting it against American targets because of the US continuing to embrace its spoilt child Israel without holding it accountable. "Fabricating crises, provoking wars and taking decisions that had been postponed until further notice -- such as confronting Hizbullah's missiles -- are measures which help bring Israel out of international isolation and help it elude US pressure," Dergham concludes. Providing Hizbullah with advanced missiles is an issue that does not earn international sympathy, but in fact provokes anger and places Israel in the position of the victim which is defending itself, Dergham wrote. "This may well be what Israel planned by fabricating the missile crisis, or it may have been offered it on a silver platter if the accusations of these additional missiles being leaked to Hizbullah turn out to be true," Dergham wrote.
