The Gush Emunim movement on the West…

The Gush Emunim movement on the West Bank has gathered force since the Yom Kippur War and had begun in 1974 to plant small communities near large Arab populations, greatly complicating Israeli policy and arousing international opposition.

The secular Israeli government opposes such efforts but rarely uses force to dislodge the settlers, who invoke Zionist rights to the homeland in their defense.

Still, they number fewer than four thousan dwhen Likud comes to power.

Now, Israel's settlement policy in the occupied territories changes.

Whereas Labor's policies had been guided primarily by security concerns, Begin espouses a deep ideological attachment to the territories.

He views the Jewish right of settlement in the occupied territories as fulfilling biblical prophecy and therefore not a matter for either the Arabs or the international community to accept or reject.

Begin's messianic designs on the territories are supported by the rapid growth of religious nationalist groups, such as Gush Emunim, which step up their efforts to establish settlements in heavily populated Arab areas.