Opponents to this month's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip vowed yesterday to march to the Gaza settlements, putting them in direct confrontation with thousands of police and soldiers determined to prevent the protesters from reaching the closed military zone.
The declaration marked a turnaround for the settlers. On Monday, settler leader Bentsi Lieberman said in a TV interview the protesters would not try to get to the Gaza settlements, which were sealed off to nonresidents last month to prevent protesters from sabotaging the evacuation.
About 15,000 police and soldiers were deploying in southern Israel yesterday, police said. Security forces were planning to form human chains and set up roadblocks throughout the area to prevent protesters from getting to Gaza.
PHOTO: AP
Early yesterday, dozens of protesters -- many donning the orange color symbolizing opposition to the withdrawal -- gathered in Sderot to set up a stage and hang banners. Thousands were expected to arrive later yesterday in buses and private cars. But police said the protesters would only be allowed to travel from Sderot to Ofakim -- a town 28km from the Gaza Strip. The settlers said they would spend the night in Ofakim and march to the Gush Katif bloc of settlements today.
"Overnight, we will prepare for our march to Gush Katif," Jewish settler leader Pinchas Wallerstein told Israel's Army Radio. "The only thing I am willing to promise ... is that the battle will be determined but nonviolent."
Last month, pullout opponents spent three nights in the Israeli town of Kfar Maimon in hopes of marching to Gaza, but gave up due to a massive police presence and intense heat.
Israel plans to pull out of all 21 Gaza Strip settlements and four West Bank enclaves in mid-August, uprooting about 9,000 settlers from their homes. The government says more than half of the settlers have agreed to leave voluntarily.
But some settler leaders and their supporters plan fierce resistance. More than 200,000 settlers live in other parts of the West Bank, and their leaders fear the Gaza pullout could be the beginning of further withdrawals from land claimed by the Palestinians. Observant Jews believe the West Bank is promised to the Jews in the Bible.
Wallerstein said forcing the government to divert police and soldiers to prevent a march on the settlements is part of the settlers' attempt to sabotage the withdrawal and grab headlines, Wallerstein said.
Police spokesman Avi Zelba said the settlers had agreed not to enter Gaza and to leave Ofakim on Friday. But Yitzhak Levy, a pro-settler lawmaker, denied there was such an agreement, saying protesters would remain in Ofakim for as long as they deem necessary.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz barred protesters on Monday from gathering in Sderot, citing concerns that the city -- a few kilometers from Gaza -- would be targeted by Palestinian rocket fire. Israeli media reported that security forces also were concerned the thousands of protesters would march to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's ranch, less than a kilometer away. Zelba said police decided to limit the time of the demonstration and the number of people allowed to attend.
Israeli military commanders will meet their Palestinian counterparts today to continue efforts to coordinate the withdrawal. The Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot reported that at a similar meeting on Monday, the Israeli and Palestinian commanders agreed on a process for transferring power of abandoned Gaza settlements. The report said participants prefer for each settlement to be handed over immediately after it is evacuated, not when the entire withdrawal is completed.
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