Ha'aretz: Golan settlements prepare for possible Hezbollah attacks

By Sharon Gal Ha'aretz Correspondent Ha'aretz 6 November 2000

Security procedures at northern Golan Heights settlements have been beefed up in response to the kidnapping by Hezbollah of three IDF soldiers at Har Dov and to reports about the intentions of the Shi'ite organization to continue its hostile activities along the northern border.

Exemplifying the trend, a security team of residents of Moshav Neveh Ativ has been re-assembled, two years after it was dismantled; in addition, bomb shelters in the settlement are staying open and are being kept well stocked in accordance with orders issued by the Northern Command of the Israel Defense Forces.

More stringent security procedures on the Golan have included the shutting down of the Mount Hermon site, although the Northern Command has promised to reconsider this policy as the winter progresses and the ski season begins.

In addition, Golan settlements have been asked to take various steps in the name of added protection. Some have balked; residents of the Nimrod settlement, for example, refused to allow soldiers to stand guard at the entrance to the community.

Ha'aretz has learned that the Northern Command has ordered the residents team at Neveh Ativ to prepare itself along the lines of the emergency squads in communities in the Upper Galilee, along the Lebanon border.

Some 10 residents of Neveh Ativ, most of them newly-discharged from the IDF, volunteered to join the squad and will receive M-16 rifles and other types of defense equipment.

Two weeks ago, the members of the squad trained at a firing range and were briefed by IDF officers.

The four families which live in Nimrod, formerly an IDF outpost that became a civilian settlement two years ago, opposed recommendations for the deployment of guards and the implementation of other stepped-up security procedures.

Since the Har Dov kidnapping, the residents of Nimrod said yesterday, "the army has been on the go. There are more soldiers in the region now."

None of the residents of Nimrod volunteered to be issued with rifles. The IDF has stated that if the need arises, soldiers would be quickly dispatched to provide defense for the small settlement.