SETTLERS REACT TO ATTACK ON ISRAELI PROFESSOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 001808

SIPDIS

NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE. NSC FOR ABRAMS/RAMCHAND/PASCUAL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/25/2018
TAGS: KWBG PBTS PREL PHUM IS
SUBJECT: SETTLERS REACT TO ATTACK ON ISRAELI PROFESSOR

REF: TEL AVIV 2218

Classified By: Acting Principal Officer Greg Marchese, per reasons 1.4
(b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Following the September 24 pipe bomb
attack that wounded Israeli professor Zeev Sternhell at his
Jerusalem home and the discovery of leaflets threatening
Peace Now representatives at the scene (reftel),settlers
condemned the attack and denied involvement. They blamed the
media for "anti-settler" propaganda, accused Sternhell of
past incitement against them, and suggested the leaflets were
fakes. On September 25, Settler Yesha Council Chairman Dani
Dayan made radio appearances in which he condemned the
attack; the Yesha Council also quietly wrote a letter to
Sternhell condemning the attack. END SUMMARY.

Settlers: Suspicion Of Us Is Unwarranted
--------------


2. (C) Settlers reacted with suspicion, denial, and varying
levels of condemnation to the September 24 pipe bomb attack
(reftel) against left-wing Israeli professor Zeev Sternhell
and police discovery of a flyer offering USD 300,000 for the
killing of a 'Peace Now representative.' Although he
condemned the attack, Yesha Council Chairman Dayan complained
to POLOFF of the "unacceptable anti-settler propaganda and
incitement of the last twenty-four hours" in the media.
Labeling the attack one of "indiscriminate terror," settler
pioneer Elyakim Haetzni of Kiryat Arba (near Hebron) told
Poloff that the "leftist media is having a field day with
this," as they immediately blamed settlers for the attack.
Dayan noted other high profile political attacks against
Israelis in which the attacker was not from the settlements.
He said a 1983 incident in which a Peace Now activist was
killed by a grenade was carried out by a Jerusalem resident,
while Yigal Amir, killer of PM Rabin, was from Herzilyah.

Settlers: We Don't Like Sternhell
But We Wouldn't Attack Him
--------------


3. (C) Dayan told Poloff, "I can't believe that one of our
guys did this." He carefully outlined to POLOFF
Sternhell's history of incitement against settlers. "He
incited violence with words when he called for tanks to run
over Ofra and Elon Moreh (both northern West Bank
settlements) and when he called for Palestinians to focus
their attacks on the east side of the green line," Dayan told
Poloff. "I see him as a bad guy, as do all of us," he added.
Director General of the Yesha Council Pinchas Wallerstein
told POLOFF that the Yesha Council sent Sternhell a letter
denying involvement in the incident and expressing
condemnation of the attack. He said he hoped Sternhell would
not release it to the press, but that the Yesha Council would
inform the press within a week. Although "the right wingers
will accuse us of standing with the left, it (the letter) was
the right thing to do." Wallerstein called the attack "very
serious; it won't help our point of view," he told Poloff.

Peace Now threat faked?
--------------


4. (C) Yitzhar spokesman Amitai told POLOFF the attack on
Sternhell "smells like a provocation by the left." Both
Amitai and Dani Dayan suggested that the "terminology looks
like a leftist document; they look like a fake."

MARCHESE