The national police dismissed as nonsense today charges that the Gush Emunim were maintaining a private police force at Kiryat Arba, the Orthodox settlement adjacent to Hebron on the West Bank. The charges originated with Labor MK Yossi Sarid and others who noted that the 14 members of the Kiryat Arba force are all yeshiva students who answered ads from the pro-Gush community.
According to the police, the religious youths were duly enlisted in the local force which is subordinate to the much larger border police force in the Hebron area. The police did not question whether or not they sympathized with the Gush. The youngsters live at home when off duty but political activity is forbidden by police regulations when they are in uniform.
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