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Last Updated: Nov 10th, 2005 - 19:31:01 |
In the first administrative detention order issued ahead of the disengagement plan, Neriya Ofan, a resident of the Samaria settlement of Yitzhar, was arrested on Sunday on suspicion he planned terror attacks against Palestinians in an effort to thwart the planned evacuation from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria.
Ofan, 33 and the father of four, was arrested by Judea and Samaria police as he crossed the Hizma checkpoint in northern Jerusalem and was transferred to Ashkelon prison where, according to the order signed by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, he will be locked up until September 30.
Fellow residents of Yitzhar said they were not shocked by the move, since "these days it is even illegal to speak."
Ofan, the residents said, was one of the organizers behind the monthly right-wing marches around the Temple Mount and was an active member in the "Jews Do Not Expel Jews" campaign against the disengagement.
"The administrative detention order is a spineless move," Yitzhar settlers said. "Mofaz is using undemocratic means and [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon's government is, not for the first time, turning the State of Israel into a non-democratic government. Good morning Argentina."
Police said Ofan was the organizer behind a series of demonstrations against IDF Central Command Chief Rabbi Lt.-Col. Yehuda Vizner several months ago. He was also active in recruiting IDF soldiers to refuse evacuation orders.
In mid-April, Hebron resident Noam Federman, a known Kach supporter and far-right extremist, was placed in a semi-administrative detention until September, although, according to his order, he is confined to his home and not a prison facility.
Sources in the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the Defense Ministry said there was no intention to issue administrative detention orders en-bloc but that every case would be examined independently.
"The order issued this afternoon does in no way signify a trend," a security source said.
Sources stressed that as the disengagement approached they estimated additional orders would be issued to prevent extremists from torpedoing the evacuation of settlements.
The administrative order did not come as a surprise to the defense establishment or the settlers. Already in February, Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra told The Jerusalem Post that radical right-wingers who had the potential of leading the evacuation in a violent direction would be placed in administrative detention.
In a bizarre coincidence, as Ofan's wife Naomi made her way back home to Yitzhar from the Hizma roadblock, she was attacked by Palestinians who threw a Molotov cocktail at her car. No one was injured in the incident.
© Copyright 5764, 5765 by author and Tsel Harim
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