Shin Bet Chief: Media Contributed To Image Of ‘Settlers’ As Fanatics

The head of Israel’s internal security service said on Wednesday 21 September that the state must show understanding towards those evacuated under the disengagement plan. He cited the level of violence as low and the media at fault for portraying the evacuees as fanatics.

“The state must not push this population into a corner,” said Shin Bet chief, Yuval Diskin as reported in the Israeli daily Haaretz.

He added that he was uncomfortable when he saw media reports that described the army's evacuation of the 8000 Jews as a victory “in the style of the Six-Day War.”

“The other side of the conflict wasn't Hamas or Islamic Jihad, but Israeli citizens,” said Diskin.

“Even the incident on the roof of the synagogue in Kfar Darom would not have taken place without the media,” he said.

Diskin’s assessment is supported by an interview given by former Gush Katif resident Meyrav Levy after the evacuation.

At the time of the interview, Mrs Levy was asked what people could do to help the families who were without homes and nowhere to go.

“First of all, let us know that you care for us because all we hear from the television is that the situation is normal, that everyone is ok,” Mrs Levy answered explaining that people are not ok and are severely traumatized, even those who left willingly by the 17 August deadline.

“We think all the time that people are blaming us for this whole situation,” she continued.

“I think it would be good to know that we are ok, that we didn’t do anything wrong,” she said.

“Because of the television you can see the bad things that people do -like if they cursed-but you need to understand that [our] situation is very different. It’s not normal,” Meyrav explained.

Many former residents of Gush Katif and the evacuated Jewish communities have said they are very grateful for all the help and assistance provided to them by individuals. However, the fact that most of the help from within Israel has come from the religious communities in Judea and Samaria has astonished even some of the secular residents who lost everything to the withdrawal.

The religious and secular communities that lived in Gush Katif had a common thread that tied them together: their communities. The feeling that these communities, which were called some of the finest in the entire state by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, were portrayed as unpatriotic and selfish by sectors of the greater community of the State of Israel was a blow to their hearts.

As the process of starting over has begun, the hope of the evacuees is that through their reintegration into Israeli society, the divide in this country will be brought closer together and the general population will be better acquainted with itself when having to deal with such grand issues as future withdrawals that may soon be on the agenda.