A Pogrom Is Declared

摘要

A vaunted "fight unto death" by Jewish militants holed up in a disputed building in Hebron, a city on the Palestinian West Bank that is venerated by both Jews and Muslims, ended in their quick and relatively easy eviction by Israeli police on December 4th. But the Israeli police and army failed to prevent a subsequent splurge of violence against Palestinians in the city and elsewhere in the West Bank, which Israel's outgoing prime minister, Ehud Olmert, termed a "pogrom". A Jewish settler was filmed shooting and wounding two local Palestinians. Israeli security officials gave warning that the anticlimactic end of the Hebron siege could prompt the militants to try even more violent and spectacular methods to promote their cause. And Binyamin Netanyahu, said by pollsters to be the likely winner of a general election due in February, was embarrassed by a fellow member of his Likud party who has climbed up the party's election-candidates list by belligerently backing the settlers.