Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 4, 1994 TAG: 9404040042
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: JERUSALEM LENGTH: Medium
Baruch Marzel, who was unarmed when arrested at the home of another settler in the West Bank, had eluded police for three weeks while taunting them with phone calls to radio shows. He has been ordered incarcerated for three months without trial as part of Israel's crackdown on extremists.
The arrest came as Israel prepared to accelerate its military pullout from the Gaza Strip and Jericho in the West Bank, and as Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin gave a qualified assurance to leaders of the mainstream Jewish settlers' organization that he will not attempt to remove Jews from the core of predominantly Arab Hebron now.
But in the northern Gaza Strip, about 18 Jewish families in the tiny settlement of Dugit left their homes and moved to four tents just inside Israel, complaining that they no longer felt the government was protecting their security.
The families said they wanted to build a new settlement inside Israel, but as of Sunday night police were attempting to persuade them to return to Dugit, witnesses said.
Baruch Goldstein, the Jewish settler from Kiryat Arba who killed 29 Muslim worshipers at a Hebron mosque in February, was a member of Kach, which was founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane, and once served as its representative on the Kiryat Arba council.
Marzel, 35, has called Goldstein a "saint," and although handcuffed, he gleefully flashed a thumbs-up to reporters when captured and charged that his arrest was politically inspired.
On several fronts, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization appeared to be moving toward a rapid shift of authority in the Gaza Strip and Jericho, as well as in Hebron, scene of the massacre and heavy street violence in recent days.
Mustafa Natshe, 63, who was deposed as mayor of Hebron a decade ago at the urging of militant Jewish settlers, walked back into the municipal building Sunday to assume his post.
His return was worked out as part of efforts by Israel and the PLO to calm passions in Hebron, and Natshe became the first of the Palestinian mayors who resigned or were deposed over the last 20 years to return to his desk.
At the same time, Palestinians were making preparations for the return of more than 40 exiles to the West Bank and Gaza Strip this week. Most of them are members of Fatah, the largest wing of the PLO.
The exiles, who were deported by Israel before and during the Palestinian uprising against Israel that began in 1987, are expected to be at the vanguard of attempts by PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat to take control of the chaotic political scene in which rivalry has intensified within Fatah and between it and it's rival, Hamas.
by CNB