Gaza pullout opponents determined to march to settlements
Israeli police today put forces on one of the highest alert levels as a stand-off developed between thousands of security forces and Gaza withdrawal opponents determined to march to the coastal area despite a ban.
The protesters – who oppose a planned withdrawal next month from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements – folded their tents early today and moved from a car park where they camped overnight to the farming community of Kfar Meimon.
Their goal – despite a police ban – is to reach the Gush Katif settlements in Gaza that are due for evacuation. Negotiations between police and Jewish settler leaders were to renew later today, with each side insisting their position would be victorious.
Thousands of police gathered at Kfar Meimon, and thousands more were on the way, said Avi Zelba, a police spokesman. Police countrywide were on alert for immediate deployment to the area, he said. The last time police declared this level of alert was when Yasser Arafat died last November. The only higher alert is during a war.
Jewish settlers, meanwhile, called on their supporters to urgently head to Kfar Meimon, sending out a message saying “the assistance of supporters is needed now more than ever.” Between 20,000 and 30,000 protesters were already gathered in the area.
Although Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra and senior police officials said the protesters would not be allowed to march the remaining 10 miles to Gaza, the Kissufim crossing leading into the settlements was newly barricaded.
Concrete blocks and rolls of barbed wire were set up at the crossing point. Opponents to the withdrawal adorned the barbed wire with orange ribbons symbolising their opposition to the pullout.
The stand-off between police and pullout opponents is seen as a dry run for next month’s withdrawal, which is expected to be accompanied by fierce settler resistance.
The settlers – mostly dressed in orange, the official colour of opposition to a Gaza withdrawal – held a demonstration late yesterday, and after a stand-off with police were permitted to reach Kfar Meimon despite initial police refusal.
The settlers were permitted to reach the farming village because the children and the elderly who participated in the protest were suffering due to the heat and the close quarters they were standing in, Ezra said. Despite talks to be held later today, Ezra insisted the protesters would not be allowed to reach Gaza.
Police were harshly criticised by Cabinet ministers and the media for stopping buses from ferrying protesters to the march’s starting point in Netivot. Settler leaders appealed to the Supreme Court, claiming the police violated democratic rights by confiscating keys and licences from the bus drivers.
In Gaza City, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia was to convene a Cabinet meeting later today, and the Palestinian parliament was to begin a three-day meeting. The rush of political activity comes as a fragile truce declared in February is strained by Palestinian militants firing at Israeli targets and the threat of an Israeli invasion into the Gaza Strip.
But after several days of tension between the sides, the situation appeared to calm down today.
After five days in which militants fired dozens of mortars and home-made rockets at Israeli targets, just a handful of incidents were reported overnight. And the army removed roadblocks set up over the weekend that divided the Gaza Strip into three parts and hindered Palestinian traffic.
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