Israeli general turned lawmaker emerges as settler critic

By TIA GOLDENBERG
Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — A retired Israeli general has emerged as one of the country’s most vocal critics against settlers in the occupied West Bank. Yair Golan began his military service in the West Bank, protecting Jewish settlements. Now a legislator with the dovish Meretz party, he has repeatedly spoken out against settler violence against Palestinians — a rare critical voice in a society where the occupation is largely an accepted fact. He joins a cadre of former security personnel who, after steering clear of politics while in positions of influence, have in retirement sounded the alarm over Israel’s five-decade-long occupation of the West Bank.