Israel press focuses on settler crisis

The Israeli press forecasts a battle royal over the government move to start dismantling settler outposts as part of the roadmap peace process.

All the leading dailies report the start of operations and the outcry from opponents of the measure.

The public has been asked to choose whether to throw in its lot with the state or with the rabbis and the youth of the hills

Yediot Aharonot

"Battles on the hilltops", says a headline in the top circulation Yediot Aharonot. Settlers lay on the ground awaiting the soldiers and pledged to "struggle for every hilltop and return to every place from which we were forced".

Rabbis had urged soldiers to disobey orders, Yediot reports, predicting that Tuesday would see "the real battle when settler youths and soldiers face one another".

It quotes Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as rejecting settlers' claims that the dismantling of the outposts is "a prize for terrorism".

Determination

An editorial in the daily urges the government to "act with determination" in pursuing its policy.

The battle for the Land of Israel has begun

Yesha Council in Ma'ariv

"The dismantling of the outposts is not a prelude to the evacuation of the settlements. It is a separate issue."

"The responsible public in Yesha [the West Bank] has been asked to choose whether to throw in its lot with the state or with the rabbis and the youth of the hills."

According to Ha'aretz, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz told West Bank settler leaders that a further 15 outposts will be evacuated in the next two weeks

The daily says troops met resistance at one location, but the other actions "passed in relative calm".

"Settlers' leaders made clear they will struggle against every evacuation without violence," it says, and quotes right-wing government ministers as demanding to know: "Why are we evacuating despite the terror?"

Tourism Minister Benny Elon laments that the policy is "a surrender to US pressure to implement the road map without reservations and despite terror".

Any refusal to dismantle the settlement outposts would be a terrible mistake

Commentator Barry Rubin in Jerusalem Post

National Religious Party chairman and Minister Effi Eitam urged settlers "to wage a democratic struggle and avoid physical or verbal attacks against the security forces", Ha'aretz reports.

No surrender

Ma'ariv says the plan to dismantle the outposts is called "Operation Naked Hilltop".

Volunteers poured in from all over the West Bank, promising: "We will not give up, but will not use violence".

"The battle for the Land of Israel has begun", Ma'ariv quotes the main settler movement, the Yesha Council, as saying. The settlers are planning to establish "30 illegal outposts - one for every dismantled outpost".

Writing in the Jerusalem Post, commentator Barry Rubin argues that "any refusal to dismantle the settlement outposts would be a terrible mistake".

"Cheating or bickering on this point would only allow everyone to say that it was Israel that was violating the plan [road map]. There is absolutely no need to make this mistake."

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.