Residents of one of the oldest and most radical Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank are dreading the upcoming Middle East visit by US President George W. Bush.
The settlers of Kiryat Arba west of Hebron -- one of the first set up after the West Bank's capture in 1967 -- fear for their future amid new peace talks with the Palestinians.
But they remain defiant over American pressure to freeze settlement activity during the talks, and plan to make their voices heard during the landmark visit.
"The government should not obey Bush -- it should proudly continue construction everywhere, here in Kiryat Arba and also in Jerusalem," said Hagai Glass, a senior municipal official.
Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands, among the most divisive issues of the intractable conflict, have been in the spotlight since the two sides revived their negotiations at a US conference in late November.
Twice since then Israel has announced expansions of existing settlements, sparking fury among the Palestinians and criticism from its main ally Washington.
All Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank is illegal under international law.
The announcements notably included an expansion of the Har Homa settlement -- known as Jebel Abu Ghneim in Arabic -- in east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want to make the capital of their promised future state.
The move stalled the first two meetings of the negotiating teams, with the Palestinians warning that the talks would collapse altogether unless Israel halted such settlement activity.
After Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met to break the deadlock and pledged to refrain from doing anything that could compromise the peace talks, Israel tightened control.
Olmert ordered that any action related to settlements -- announcements of new tenders, expropriation of lands -- had to be authorised by his office.
Coupled with his previous statements that Israel will not build new settlements and will dismantle wildcat outposts -- settlements not authorised by the government -- Olmert's actions are worrying hardline settlers.
"The government should not take orders from President Bush," Glass reiterated. "Construction in Kiryat Arba, as elsewhere in the land of Israel, must continue."
To get their message across, hardline settlers are planning a major demonstration in Har Homa on Wednesday, the day Bush arrives on the first visit to Israel by a sitting US president in nine years.
They say they are also planning to set up new wildcat outposts.
Forty years after Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War, more than 260,000 settlers live in the occupied West Bank and some 200,000 in annexed east Jerusalem.
Some settlers worry that a failure of the revived talks will unleash new violence targeting them, a feeling particularly pronounced in Kiryat Arba where two off-duty soldiers were killed last month by Palestinian fire while hiking in the area.
"I worry about the future, as all these negotiations risk unleashing new attacks and we will be the first ones targeted," said Eliahu Atlan, a history teacher at Kiryat Arba's high school.
Bush's visit "is nothing but a show, and will only result in a recurrence of Palestinian violence that, paradoxically, will work in favour of our cause," he added.
The government is reportedly considering offering compensation to settlers who freely leave and relocate to within Israel proper.
But the hardliners believe they are following God's word by living on the lands of biblical Israel and dismiss such talk, vowing they will not sell out the "homeland."
Kiryat Arba is where Baruch Goldstein -- an extremist who shot dead 29 Muslim worshippers in a Hebron mosque in 1994 -- was buried.
But amid the defiance there are also signs that some settlers there, many of whom were attracted by cheaper housing rather than ideology, would be more than willing to leave.
"The majority of people will remain here no matter what the security situation, and no financial promise will make them leave," said Glass.
"But I understand that some residents would like to go," he admitted. "It's not always easy to live in Kiryat Arba."
Gadi, a grocery store owner who has lived in Kiryat Arba for 30 years, insisted that most residents would jump at the chance to leave, however.
"Seventy percent will do so if they receive enough money," he said.
"There are many poor and new Russian immigrants who are waiting for a chance like this so they can leave," he added, asking that his last name not be used. "Normal people will not remain here."
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