Jailed for pro-settler protest
2009-10-25 23:33
Jerusalem - Two Israeli soldiers who held up a banner backing Jewish settlers on occupied land during their swearing-in ceremony were dismissed from their infantry brigade and jailed on Sunday, a military spokesperson said.
The display at a parade at Judaism's revered Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City on Thursday made headlines in Israel. US pressure to make peace has sharpened recent debate on settlement in the West Bank, where Palestinians want to establish a state.
Television footage showed soldiers from the Kfir brigade, which operates in the West Bank, at attention. Among them a Hebrew banner is unfurled reading: "The Shimshon Regiment Won't Clear Out Homesh" - a reference to a settlement near Nablus which the army dismantled after evicting residents in 2005.
A court martial sentenced two soldiers to 20 days in jail and dismissed them from their unit over the incident, a military spokesperson said. In such cases, soldiers are generally required to spend the rest of their mandatory service in menial tasks.
The Obama administration said on Thursday that Israel had shown "willingness to curtail settlement activity", though right-leaning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has resisted US calls for a total freeze on construction.
Israeli officials appear instead to be focused on dismantling outposts erected by settlers without government approval. Soldiers usually help in such operations, angering Israelis who think the job should go to police, not conscripts.
