Quoted in the New York Times

Interviewed on Thursday, I am quoted in today's NYT story on Israel.

The Yesha Council, the main group representing settlers in the West Bank and Gaza, is leading the organized opposition to the evacuation plan, and it says it rejects violence.

The council has arranged huge rallies against the pullout, drawing crowds of 100,000 or more.

But the council says Mr. Sharon's government is trying to vilify settlers by linking them to fringe elements, and it contends that Mr. Sharon is the one guilty of incitement.

"We are disturbed at the way Mr. Sharon and his spinmeisters are moving," said Yisrael Medad, a spokesman for the Yesha Council.

Referring to the threatening letters sent to government officials, he said: "I'd bet my bottom dollar these are from cranks and psychos. Its very troubling the way the atmosphere is being cranked up against us."

"We would like to have 100,000 people calmly sitting down in the highways," he added. "But in the atmosphere Mr. Sharon is creating, I don't know what will happen."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/20/international/middleeast/20sharon.html

Too bad, though, that my best line was left out. I had said:

"While President Bush is pursuing a policy to establish a democratic Palestinian state,
he may be aiding Sharon in dedemocratizing Israel."