Leading officials of the settlement enterprise in Yesha (Judea, Samaria and Gaza) say that GSS (General Security Service) head Avi Dichter is trying to discredit the entire nationalist camp. Dichter said yesterday that the right-wing is becoming more extremist and closer to inciting to violence, and warned that the situation is liable to lead to bloodshed.

MK Uri Ariel (National Union) said this morning that GSS (General Security Service) head Avi Dichter must appear before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to explain himself. "He dare not tarnish an entire sector," Ariel said.

Rabbi Elyakim Levanon of Elon Moreh - one of the largest communities in the Shomron - said, "Dichter's remarks are a balloon of hot air. He is trying to cut off the head of the entire right-wing camp in anticipation of Sharon's disengagement process."

A Yesha Council leader, Binyamin Regional Council head Pinchas Wallerstein said that he wants to meet urgently with Dichter. "Many people in Yesha feel persecuted," Wallerstein said. "There is a feeling of a pressure cooker that must be released, but remarks like his simply do the opposite. All the talk about extremists, extremism, and violence place all the Yesha residents into one group. Everyone feels they're talking about them, even though they know they're not planning violence."

Moshe Feiglin, of the Manhigut Yehudit faction of the Likud, said today that he, too, is very wary of someone taking the law into his own hands; "violence on our part would be the best gift we could give the left-wing." He said, however, that he is worried that the behavior of Ariel Sharon - "the most anti-democratic figure there is" - and the statements of Avi Dichter are themselves causing unrest. "I am fairly convinced that there are already all sorts of Avishai Ravivs [agents-provocateurs] who will try to stir up trouble..."

Rabbi David Stav of the Tzohar Rabbis Organization - known for its combination of a strictly Halakhic [Jewish legal] approach and outspoken attempts to reach out to modern secular society - said that Dichter's statements do not lead to a calming of the situation, but rather the opposite.

Rabbi Yishai Ba'avad, interviewed on Voice of Israel Radio, said that Halakhah will always take precedence over secular law, and that democracy knows how to adapt itself to the society in which it operates. Rabbi Stav "toned down" this statement by saying that though in general Halakhah takes precedence, such as if the government were to ban tefillin or the Sabbath - but that often the Halakhah itself makes allowances for government-made laws. The interviewers took Rabbi Ba'avad to task for his strong statements, but did not press Rabbi Stav to explain his remarks regarding tefillin and the Sabbath.