According to Hagai Segal, the IDF is trying to provoke the poor settlers into starting a civil war...
Dont shoot the settlers
Op-ed: Wild assault at settlers in wake of latest rightist violence is a recipe for civil war
Hagai Segal
For dozens of years now, the settlers have been fighting for the sake of changing the rules of engagement in respect to stone-throwers, and finally we are seeing a possibility of change. Suddenly people within the Green Line are seriously considering the claim that a stone is a lethal weapon, just like a gun, a hand-grenade, or a knife.
Security experts and fans of restraint, which up until now strongly objected to the settlers proposals, shifted overnight to showing enthusiastic support for the elimination of terrorists with stones in their hands. The possibility that the IDF will direct live fire at certain Jews greatly appeals to these people.
Assuming that the High Court of Justice will not permit selective rules of engagement that is, different rules for Jewish and for Arab rioters we can expect that the Arabs of all people will be hurt by such change. While the impression created recently is that most stones being hurled in the territories come from the Jewish side, the statistical findings still tell the opposite story.
Only three months ago, a Jewish father and son were murdered by a Palestinian stone hurled at their vehicle. The media and political shock the following day was akin to a slight wave compared to the shock we saw this past week following the Jewish assault on the IDFs Ephraim regional division.
Read more: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4162805,00.html