Benny Raz is a formidable man, both in appearance and in attitude: an ex-Mossad security agent, his powerful frame is matched by the fire burning in his heart against the rulers of his homeland. He is engaged in a battle that, in his eyes, is crucial that he win in order to safeguard the future of the state he "dearly loves".

"If we don't make peace, the Middle East will explode", he warns. "We can't live by the sword forever; if we don't deal with the Palestinians [over a negotiating table], they'll return to terror, and no army can beat terror; only diplomacy can." Raz is, by definition, a settler – albeit an incredibly reluctant one. He is desperate to relocate his family west of the Green Line, but economic conditions make such a move financially unviable, and he wants the government to enact legislation to help him.

He held rightwing political views for most of his life, "but Rabin's assassination [in 1995] changed everything". Despite his leftward lurch, he continued to live in the settlement of Karnei Shomron, where he had moved in 1992. However, three months before the disengagement of 2005, he realised that the route of the separation wall was going to leave Karnei Shomron on the "wrong" side of the border, a prospect that filled him with dread.

"The state didn't ask me if I minded living to the east of the wall; they didn't give me a choice in the matter. There is no security [for me and my family] if we live behind the wall – I shouldn't have to be the shield of the country: that's the job of the army."

The developing situation, combined with his new-found belief that the West Bank had to be conceded to the Palestinians if there was ever to be a lasting peace, led Raz to begin a one-man campaign to spur the government into action. He launched the "Bayit Echad" [One Home] movement to try to bring about legislation to compensate settlers who would voluntarily move back to Israel proper, behind the 1967 border.

He is convinced that up to 80% of settlers in the West Bank would leave if given sufficient financial assistance to do so, "but most of them are too scared to [stand up and be counted]". Raz has reams of paper containing the names and numbers of scores of settlers who have contacted him via his website, but whose sense of intimidation prevents them publicly joining him in his crusade.

Raz himself has suffered serious abuse at the hands of ideological settlers, who are incandescent at his "traitorous" actions. "They call me 'Arab', 'fascist', and worse", he tells me. "On one occasion a mob tried to tip over my car with my son and me inside, and on election day I even received a death threat from an opponent".

Raz carries a pistol with him wherever he goes, "but not to protect me from Palestinians – it's the settlers I have to worry about", he remarks flatly. However, the threat of attack has not deterred him; if anything, it's made him even more determined to see his plans through to fruition.

"One man offered enough money to buy me out so that I could move out of the West Bank, but I turned him down," he says. "This isn't about just me any more – I'm only one of thousands of settlers who deserve to be compensated. This is meant to be a democratic country, so no one can just throw money at me to make me shut up."

He drives me to the Bika region near the Jordan valley, where two policemen were shot dead earlier in the week, and where – according to Raz – dozens of locals are desperate to leave their settlements. We meet a man who feels utterly betrayed by the state, which he says lured him to live in the area in the 1970s with promises to invest heavily in the region, but never came good, resulting in his sinking into financial dire straits as the local economy steadily collapsed.

He doesn't share Raz's political outlook, but none the less is happy to support the Bayit Echad movement as a means to an end – and it is this kind of cross-political backing that Raz feels can provide his campaign with the clout it requires to force the government's hand.

"[The settlement enterprise] is a house of cards", Raz says. "If half the settlers leave, the rest of the project will fall – and that's a good thing, as this country does not have the luxury of time on its side anymore. The army is not as strong as it once was, and the pragmatic Arab leaders must be worked with [rather than ignored]."

He is not hopeful of imminent success in the wake of the election results: "Netanyahu is the most dangerous leader Israel could have, and that racist Lieberman is his helper. They will drag the country back 20 years," he cautions. "However, their government will fall within 18 months, since the coalition is too unstable," he adds hopefully.

While he anticipates the downfall of Bibi's regime in the next couple of years, he has problems of his own in the immediate term, with funds to continue his campaign running perilously low, and no one to offer assistance. On top of Bayit Echad's financial crisis, the two MKs previously putting his case to the Knesset did not get re-elected in February, leaving him even more on the outside.

However, Raz maintains that it will take far worse conditions for him to throw in the towel: "Even if I have to live on bread and water, I will keep fighting. I live for this struggle – it is vital to my country's future." He is so convinced of his cause that he would take funds from any source, whether friend or foe of Israel, "since the ends justify the means. The goal is to kickstart the road map; the goal is to bring peace. There is no other way".

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