And so it begins anew. Many believed that with the arrival of the Likud government the practice of arresting Israeli citizens and holding them without charge or trial would come to an end. The ability of the Israeli authorities to exercise this highly undemocratic and draconian practice is founded on left over British Mandate law imposed upon Eretz Israel by the colonialist regime before the state was created.

According to the Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai no massive roundups of Jews is expected, however, he said that the government will detain all those it deems necessary. "Our policy is not to use administrative detention. We will use administrative detention only if it is clear to the security forces that there is a real danger from a person or persons who can inflame the situation and endanger Jews or Arabs," maintained Mordechai on November 10, 1996. "When there is a clear and proven need for imposing administrative detention, we will do so. We have no intention of using this in a massive way. I wish we didn't have to use it at all; but in those isolated cases where it is necessary for security reasons, then I think we are obliged to use it," he concluded.

Meanwhile, Internal Security Minister Avigdor Kahalani said the fact that administrative detention is being used against Jewish residence of Hevron and others does not contradict the government's commitment to ensure the safety of Hevron's Jewish community. "I want to make clear that our top priority is to defend the Jewish community of Hevron. And we will do everything necessary to do so. At the same time, we will not allow one person to do damage that could hurt everyone. It's our job to prevent such an act," Kahalani said and added, "We will round up those who are dangerous, and who endanger everyone else, and will put them away in some corner."

This sort of language is inciteful and to say the least, undemocratic. Israel has a refined legal system in which those suspected of crimes or the planning of crimes are arrested, held and tried based upon the evidence obtained by the police. The tactics police can often be heavy handed while the courts give every leniency to the police. Therefore there is no excuse to bypass this process and hold Israeli citizens without charge or trial. To "put them away in some corner" without due process sets in motion the hovering authoritarianism that contradicts all commitments to civil liberties and free speech.

Administrative detention is not the only form of intimidation currently being exercised by the Likud government. On November 11 the Jerusalem District Court indicted four Jews for editing and distributing a book praising Dr. Baruch Goldstein. Dr. Goldstein whose own life was taken after killing 29 Moslems in the Ibrahimi Mosque at Hevron's Machpela Cave on Purim 1994. The book, "Baruch HaGever," was published some 18 months ago.

Think what you will about such a book and those men responsible, however, whatever opinion reached, cannot justify the indictment. The book does not call for any acts of violence, nor is there within it any inkling of sedition against the state. An indictment of this kind inhibits free speech and in consort with the renewed use of administrative detention sends a clear signal that the Likud government is retreating from its promise of an open society with civil liberties. Is Israel to return to the days of fear in which freedom of expression meant freedom to agree with the government? The platform upon which Benyamin Netanyahu ran and upon which he was elected promised much more.

In the case of administrative detention, if there is sufficient evidence against an individual, then the government should not fear due process. And in the case of the publication of printed material (especially one 18 months old) there is no excuse for the stifling of free expression as long as it is not an immediate threat to the security of the state. While several government ministers have criticized the tactics of the government and the police, one has to wonder where their voices are inside cabinet meetings.
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