ISRAEL

Haaretz: Justice Minister Lapid slams 'barbaric' behavior of settlers

Justice Minister Yosef Lapid on Thursday launched a verbal assault on residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip settlements, describing their behavior as "barbaric," and accusing them of having "de facto" control in Israel.

Lapid said that the settlers "in their heart of hearts dream of the transfer of Palestinians to the [Eastern] banks of the Jordan [river], a solution which is not only barbaric but also utterly impossible."

Speaking at the Herzliya Conference, a showcase conference on Israeli security, Lapid said that, "Even though Israel is an exemplary democracy, it is de facto controlled by a small minority of Yesha settlers who represent a minority within the settlers themselves.

"Their answer to the demographic problem is for another million immigrants to arrive in the country, although no one knows from where," he said.

Speakers at the Herzliya Conference revisited Thursday controversial comments made by Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the day before, in which he said that the Israeli Arab population posed a demographic threat to the country.

MK Azmi Bishara of Balad (National Democratic Alliance) said that describing the original residents of the land as a demographic problem would be considered racist in any country.

"No people in the world like to hear that their actual existence causes a demographic problem," Bishara told Army Radio. "Even in undeveloped countries, this is thought of as racist."

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