NYT: Israel Charges 5 Settlers in West Bank Army Base Clash [View all]

[DeathToTheOil]

JERUSALEM — Israeli prosecutors on Sunday charged five radical Jewish settlers with tracking troop movements in the West Bank and organizing a raid on an Israeli Army base there last month.

The indictment was the first sign of a promised crackdown on settlers whose increasingly provocative actions have been described by some Israeli officials as homegrown terrorism.

In recent years, small groups of radical settlers have pursued a policy known as “price tag,” attacking Palestinian civilians and vandalizing property as well as distracting Israeli security forces and damaging military equipment. The point is to either thwart, or retaliate for, any attempt by the Israeli Army or the police to dismantle property in illegally built outposts scheduled to be removed by the government.

Israeli leaders have expressed growing alarm at the actions by the settlers, including arson attacks against several mosques. But the December attack on the army base shocked much of country and drew a strong condemnation from leaders of the settler establishment, not least because the Israeli Army is responsible for protecting the settlements in the West Bank.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/09/world/middleeast/israel-charges-5-settlers-in-clash-at-army-base.html?_r=1&hp