
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 4, 1994                   TAG: 9403040040
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RAMALLAH, OCCUPIED WEST BANK                                LENGTH: Medium

ISRAEL FREES 400 PRISONERS; SETTLER DEFIANCE GOES ON

Israel freed 400 Palestinian prisoners Thursday in a so-far vain effort to stop violence ignited by the Hebron mosque massacre. At the same time, it faces growing defiance from Jewish extremists.

Despite releasing 1,000 prisoners over the past three days, there has been no sign that outraged Palestinians in the occupied territories would stop protesting and return to stalled peace talks.

"This release won't change the hatred between us and the settlers," said 19-year-old Yasser Sharabati, a Palestinian activist freed Thursday.

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is facing growing defiance from extremist Jewish settlers in the territories. Following last week's attack by a settler who killed at least 39 Palestinian worshipers in a mosque, the army disarmed 18 settlers and banned them from Palestinian areas.

The crackdown has focused on Kach and Kahane Lives, militant Jewish movements inspired by the late Meir Kahane, an extremist anti-Arab militant.

Settler leaders Thursday called on settlers to resist being disarmed.

One leader, Uri Ariel, said settlers should not use violence against troops. But the crackdown sharpened their confrontation with the government.

One of the fugitives, Nathan Levy, brazenly attended a brief news conference Thursday in Jerusalem with nine Kach activists, some carrying guns. A senior Kach leader, Michael Ben-Ari, denounced "the witch-hunt" and declared, "The majority of people are behind the persecuted Kach movement."

The national news agency Itim reported that radical settlers in Hebron and the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba have said they won't surrender their weapons if attempts are made to disarm them.

The mosque gunman, New York native Baruch Goldstein, came from Kiryat Arba, and his grave there has now become a shrine for Israeli extremists, much to the government's chagrin. Goldstein was beaten to death by Palestinians after the massacre.

Five Kach members were arrested Thursday trying to disrupt a Jerusalem demonstration protesting the massacre.

The violence in the occupied territories abated Thursday during the prisoner release. But there were fears that trouble will erupt today, the Muslim holy day.

by CNB