Knesset members hurt at Amona

From Ynet News 02.01.06, 18:41 by Efrat Weiss, Amona ...

Knesset Members Arieh Eldad and Effie Eitam were injured Wednesday morning as troops clashes with settlers during the evacuation of the illegal outpost of Amona. Eitam sustaines head injuries, Eldad breaks hand, faints.

...Later, speaking from the hospital, Eitam said that "In Gush Katif we proved that we know how to define the limits of the battle, and that is what we also planned to do today. I stood in front of the youths and thought that there would be a police officer there to talk to....The mounted police officers were well-aware of our presence, but then a horse with a mounted policeman hit me and I lost consciousness..." .

Eitam harshly blasted Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Directly addressing Olmert, he said that “you are far from being the successor of (Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon....You have proven today that you are frightened, confused and manipulative. You have acted with stupidity and narrow-mindedness. This is not the way to build premiership...We would have known how to control this incident like in Gush Katif, but the police officers were ordered to act with violence against the children and public leaders...."

'Olmert - a very small politician'
Eitam said that he did not get the opportunity to express his leadership.

"For 30 years I fought in the battlefield and I never believed I will be wounded by a Jewish policeman while I fulfill my duty as a Knesset member. I bear no grudge toward this policeman. He carried out the order of an inexperienced acting prime minister driven by his media advisors," he said.

"Olmert is producing a TV campaign advertisement for Kadima and the police officers were there to display brutal force and intimidate a public that has already been seriously hit in the summer. Olmert proved that he is unworthy of leading a state and a nation. He is a very small politician who held a demonstration on the Israeli society's account," Eitam charged.

Dozens of security officers and settlers were also hurt in the violence.

Police forces stormed the outpost through the barricades erected by settlers. The troops hit the settlers with batons and used mounted forces in the operation. Meanwhile, settlers threw stones at the evacuating forces.

Several right-wing Knesset members, including Effie Eitam, Benny Elon, Arieh Eldad and Uri Ariel attempted to serve as a barrier between forces and settlers.

Violence doesn't pay
Earlier, Knesset members from the Renewed National Religious Zionism party responded to the decision to approve the evacuation by saying "the High Court is assisting Ehud Olmert's elections campaign aimed at evoking hatred...between brothers while rejecting all attempts to reach a compromise."

MK Uzi Landau (Likud) said: "Ehud Olmert wants confrontation at all cost. His refusal to compromise with the settlers proves we face a struggle not over the rule of law, but a political maneuver aimed at distracting the public from his role in Hamas' victory. He cannot fight terror, so he turns the settlers into the enemy." ...

Tal Rosner, Roee Nahmias and Meital Yasur-Beit Or contributed to the report