Former head of Israeli prime minister's bureau accused of incitement

In an interview that appeared Thursday in the national religious publication B'Sheva, Nekuda editor Uri Elitzur, said "the uprooting of a settlement is illegal and shocking and thus justifies the refusal of orders, violence excluding the use of firearms, and any method by which an individual is able to defend his home from which he is being evicted for political reasons."

Elitzur previously headed a movement opposing the Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula. He said he advised soldiers to refuse orders they receive to evacuate settlements because "these would be illegal orders and whomever carries them out would be put on trial."

"It is not illogical in my eyes that things will reach a situation in which blood is spilled," Elitzur said. "Every population in the world would act similarly in a situation like this... People who harm those who come to evacuate them, I will grant them my complete understanding."

"Uri Elitzur has lost his mind and must be stopped immediately before he starts a civil war," MK Ilan Leibovich (Shinui) told Israel Radio.

Elitzur has told Haaretz in the past that the evacuation of Yamit was like the killing of a fetus and the evacuation of the Gush Katif settlements, which have been in place some 30 years, would be like the killing of a child.

Elitzur, who has also been responsible for the National Religious Party's election publicity campaign for years, was until recently considered to sit within the settlers' political middle ground but his statements are becoming more extreme. He is now nearing the line taking by Kiryat Arba lawyer Elyakim Ha'etzni.

Ha'etzni has been saying for years that the uprooting of Jewish settlements in the Land of Israel is an illegal and immoral act that one has an ethical obligation to resist. He has organized petitions signed by authors, academics, retired military and public figures calling for the refusal of orders to evacuate settlements.

Chairman of the Yesha Council Bentzi Lieberman, however, believes soldiers must not be called upon to resist orders to evacuate settlements.

"The fabric of our nation and the need to live together is no less important than the land of Israel. The refusal of orders will diminish our ability to exist together in Israel. This is out of the question. From a personal standpoint, every soldier has the right to ask to guarding his base's main gate on the day [of an evacuation]," Lieberman said.

He has expressed opposition to all forms of violent resistance against soldiers, whether physical or verbal.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/440415.html