simmering

1 March 2005, Annette Grossbongardt, Der Spiegel

Mirit Danon is not likely to forget the evening of Nov. 4, 1995. On that fateful autumn day a decade ago, a Jewish religious fanatic gunned down Israel's then-prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin. Danon was his secretary at the time. She also still clearly remembers the weeks leading up to the assassination. It was, after all, her phone that received the myriad threatening phone calls made against Rabin. "You son of a bitch!" they would scream into her ear. "Traitor! Death awaits you!"

Now, 10 years later, it seems to Danon that history is repeating itself. She still sits at the same desk just outside of the prime minister's office. This time, however, it is her new boss, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who is the target for the murderous threats. The reason? In the face of fierce opposition from the right, he is planning on removing the Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip this summer. "Sharon is Hitler's partner," reads the graffiti on the sides of buildings in Jerusalem. "Rabin is waiting for you!"

When Sharon showed her some of the most recent threat letters, the normally discreet secretary decided to go public. "We have to get people to wake up," she told the daily paper Maariv. "I have the feeling that I am sitting in the same cinema and watching the same horror film."

Her impression is likely not far from the truth. Since the Israeli cabinet on Feb. 20 officially decided to go ahead with the evacuation of 7,000 settlers from the Gaza Strip and a further 1,000 from the West Bank, the country has been readying itself for what may turn out to be one of the most intense internal struggles since the founding of Israel in the late 1940s. Those supporting Sharon's plan stand eyeball to eyeball with the settlers. Peaceful democrats oppose the religious zealots. Jews are pitted against Jews. The officials in charge of the evacuation are being referred to as the "Judenrat"-- a reference to the Jewish administrators who were forced to work with the government in Nazi Germany to help resettle Jews into ghettos. Additionally, a number of Sharon's ministers have, like Sharon himself, received death threats.

One of Sharon's close associates recently even went so far as to say, "I have the feeling that we are on the eve of a civil war."

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The conservative Likud rebels who are opposing the withdrawal-- the most prominent among them is Sharon's rival and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu-- are demanding a referendum on the issue. Between 30 and 40 Likud parliamentarians have already signed a corresponding petition. "Sharon was elected on the opposite mandate-- that the settlements in Gaza Strip are just as important as Tel Aviv," criticized rebel leader Uzi Landau.

But few believe they actually have a chance of holding a referendum on the settlement evacuations. The last hope for Sharon's opponents is the upcoming vote on the Israeli budget, which is expected to happen by the end of March at the latest. If the prime minister is unable to secure a majority, his government will fall.

Meanwhile, the settlers-- like the government-- are preparing for the worst. One group operating under the name "Last Judgement" has created a paramilitary organization under the command of a retired Israeli military general that even has its own war staff. As many as 100,000 supporters are said to be ready to fight on behalf of the threatened Gaza settlers-- they say they will use their bodies to block the police from coming.

"We're going to call for civil disobedience, but we're against violence," said settler leader Pinchas Wallerstein. But can the resistance remain free of violence? In the Gaza Strip alone, around 3,000 settlers possess weapons.

But the greatest danger is less likely to come from the settlers-- the majority of whom are assumed to be peaceful citizens-- than from right-wing extremists. A fanatical loner is the nightmare of the Israeli intelligence services. "The next killer lives among us," warned the tabloid Maariv. "He doesn't attract attention, he speaks in moderate tones, he's anonymous, silent and deadly. He's just waiting for the right moment and it will come soon."


MORE: Will Sharon's Settlement Plan Spark a Fratricidal War?