August 14 Reluctant Neveh Dekalim lets in movers
Reluctant Neveh Dekalim lets in movers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOVAH LAZAROFF and Hilary leila kreiger, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 16, 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hundreds of protesters thwarted the entry of the police into the largest Gaza settlement on Monday morning, but did not prevent scores of moving trucks from driving in to collect residents' possessions later in the day.
In the 500-family community, where most members are quick to explain that disengagement is unlikely to come to pass, Monday was the first day in which signs of a mass relocation were evident. The sudden switch came less than two days before August 17, when the IDF will begin to forcibly evacuate the Gaza settlers.
The protest, during which throngs of demonstrators clustered in the sweltering heat singing "God have mercy on us" and other religious songs and blocking the gate to police, ended by mid-afternoon with just a couple dozen teenagers staging a last-ditch effort to prevent trucks carting one-ton containers from entering the settlement.
After a half-hour of prodding, they too gave way and allowed the trucks to pass, in what one IDF officer described as a "symbolic" moment of what lies ahead, though earlier the demonstrators succeeded in keeping security officials from distributing eviction notices to residents as planned.
At one point, an officer told the protesters that he "respected the democratic decision of the community" and would not distribute the notices.
A second demonstration developed at the back end of the community to prevent soldiers from entering the area.
The police and IDF had planned to go door-to-door distributing evacuation orders here, but the protest caused the security forces to abandon the plan. Even without handing out the papers, one officer remarked, "They get the idea."
But a number of police officers did go door to door speaking to the residents.
"We're here to listen to the residents and to meet them," said officer Effi Shiman, explaining that he was not yet handing out eviction notices.
Not all the residents wanted to speak with him, however, "Don't come into this house, get out of here," said one woman, as she stood in the doorway impervious to Shiman's desire to talk with her.
But she was only one of the few unfriendly faces in the home of the Chabad family and anti-disengagement activists.
As the police officers sat on the wall outside the home to rest for a few minutes following their exchange, a number of young men exited out the back door and set up a speaker blaring religious music.
One young man came up to one of the officers, patting him on the back and said, "My brother, I heard you were here." As the officers stood up, a crowd of people began singing and dancing around them.
As the officer walked away, one man walked after them with a bottle of liquor and two cups. "Let's at least drink a toast together," he said.
When police officers met with protesters at the gate to the town, they also had many positive exchanges over their differing views of the disengagement plan. Leading rabbis in the settlement held several calm, though inconclusive, discussions with police.
Police stressed that they wouldn't use force to disperse protesters or break down the gate until Wednesday, when the forced evacuation begins.
"We will be able to get anywhere we want to get and do anything we want to do," OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Dan Harel told The Jerusalem Post. But, he added, "We want to do everything slowly, we're not in a hurry. Our sole purpose is to talk, and not to have any sort of violence."
The relative calm of the day was a marked contrast to a near riot that broke out in the morning when teens, mostly not from Gush Katif, trashed an army jeep that passed by the settlement's main road and slashed the tires of a second one as it drove by.
The day's demonstrators included many Israelis who came from outside Gaza and convened in Neveh Dekalim to make the job of the security forces more difficult.
They also included a handful of tourists, including a Born-Again Christian couple from the American Midwest who said they were participating in the first political protest of their lives by coming to Gush Katif to oppose disengagement.
"We realize there's a possibility we could be arrested," said Dave, who didn't want to give his last name for fear of retaliation from Islamic extremists. "[But] we think this is so important that we want to take a stand, and we're willing to take our chances."
In spite of the moving trucks and the cartons on people's lawns, many Neveh Dekalim residents said they still intended to remain in the settlement until the soldiers came to pull them out.
Naomi Giahsi was busy Monday packing her books and watering the flowers in the yard outside her Neveh Dekalim home.
She saw no contradiction in the two actions. Sitting on her front porch, with a kerchief tied around her head, the petite mother of five said she moved the books after seeing the police lined up outside the Neveh Dekalim gates that morning.
She fears that if the IDF does arrive at her door to pull her out as part of its evacuation of the Gaza after the 17th, the soldiers "will throw them out." She added, "I took them out in tears." But in spite of the empty shelves, she believes that the disengagement plan will be thwarted and the act was a temporary one.
Sitting on her porch, holding a towel on her lap, as she paused from packing, Bat Sinai Jibli said she still believed a miracle was likely to occur that would save the community.
But on Sunday, it came to her that moving out may, for some unexplained reason, be God's will. Within 24 hours, she emptied out her home.
Not ready to give up on miracles, "I'm telling myself that I'm taking everything away so I can repair the house," she said.
But while her possessions are heading out the door, she herself plans to stay until the soldiers come.
"Maybe it still won't happen," she said.
Yaakov Siton said he too moved his possessions out, but plans to remain until the last moment.
"I'm doing it the way the victim of a robbery does it, when a gun is pointed to his head," he said. "I'm doing it only to save my property."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOVAH LAZAROFF and Hilary leila kreiger, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 16, 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hundreds of protesters thwarted the entry of the police into the largest Gaza settlement on Monday morning, but did not prevent scores of moving trucks from driving in to collect residents' possessions later in the day.
In the 500-family community, where most members are quick to explain that disengagement is unlikely to come to pass, Monday was the first day in which signs of a mass relocation were evident. The sudden switch came less than two days before August 17, when the IDF will begin to forcibly evacuate the Gaza settlers.
The protest, during which throngs of demonstrators clustered in the sweltering heat singing "God have mercy on us" and other religious songs and blocking the gate to police, ended by mid-afternoon with just a couple dozen teenagers staging a last-ditch effort to prevent trucks carting one-ton containers from entering the settlement.
After a half-hour of prodding, they too gave way and allowed the trucks to pass, in what one IDF officer described as a "symbolic" moment of what lies ahead, though earlier the demonstrators succeeded in keeping security officials from distributing eviction notices to residents as planned.
At one point, an officer told the protesters that he "respected the democratic decision of the community" and would not distribute the notices.
A second demonstration developed at the back end of the community to prevent soldiers from entering the area.
The police and IDF had planned to go door-to-door distributing evacuation orders here, but the protest caused the security forces to abandon the plan. Even without handing out the papers, one officer remarked, "They get the idea."
But a number of police officers did go door to door speaking to the residents.
"We're here to listen to the residents and to meet them," said officer Effi Shiman, explaining that he was not yet handing out eviction notices.
Not all the residents wanted to speak with him, however, "Don't come into this house, get out of here," said one woman, as she stood in the doorway impervious to Shiman's desire to talk with her.
But she was only one of the few unfriendly faces in the home of the Chabad family and anti-disengagement activists.
As the police officers sat on the wall outside the home to rest for a few minutes following their exchange, a number of young men exited out the back door and set up a speaker blaring religious music.
One young man came up to one of the officers, patting him on the back and said, "My brother, I heard you were here." As the officers stood up, a crowd of people began singing and dancing around them.
As the officer walked away, one man walked after them with a bottle of liquor and two cups. "Let's at least drink a toast together," he said.
When police officers met with protesters at the gate to the town, they also had many positive exchanges over their differing views of the disengagement plan. Leading rabbis in the settlement held several calm, though inconclusive, discussions with police.
Police stressed that they wouldn't use force to disperse protesters or break down the gate until Wednesday, when the forced evacuation begins.
"We will be able to get anywhere we want to get and do anything we want to do," OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Dan Harel told The Jerusalem Post. But, he added, "We want to do everything slowly, we're not in a hurry. Our sole purpose is to talk, and not to have any sort of violence."
The relative calm of the day was a marked contrast to a near riot that broke out in the morning when teens, mostly not from Gush Katif, trashed an army jeep that passed by the settlement's main road and slashed the tires of a second one as it drove by.
The day's demonstrators included many Israelis who came from outside Gaza and convened in Neveh Dekalim to make the job of the security forces more difficult.
They also included a handful of tourists, including a Born-Again Christian couple from the American Midwest who said they were participating in the first political protest of their lives by coming to Gush Katif to oppose disengagement.
"We realize there's a possibility we could be arrested," said Dave, who didn't want to give his last name for fear of retaliation from Islamic extremists. "[But] we think this is so important that we want to take a stand, and we're willing to take our chances."
In spite of the moving trucks and the cartons on people's lawns, many Neveh Dekalim residents said they still intended to remain in the settlement until the soldiers came to pull them out.
Naomi Giahsi was busy Monday packing her books and watering the flowers in the yard outside her Neveh Dekalim home.
She saw no contradiction in the two actions. Sitting on her front porch, with a kerchief tied around her head, the petite mother of five said she moved the books after seeing the police lined up outside the Neveh Dekalim gates that morning.
She fears that if the IDF does arrive at her door to pull her out as part of its evacuation of the Gaza after the 17th, the soldiers "will throw them out." She added, "I took them out in tears." But in spite of the empty shelves, she believes that the disengagement plan will be thwarted and the act was a temporary one.
Sitting on her porch, holding a towel on her lap, as she paused from packing, Bat Sinai Jibli said she still believed a miracle was likely to occur that would save the community.
But on Sunday, it came to her that moving out may, for some unexplained reason, be God's will. Within 24 hours, she emptied out her home.
Not ready to give up on miracles, "I'm telling myself that I'm taking everything away so I can repair the house," she said.
But while her possessions are heading out the door, she herself plans to stay until the soldiers come.
"Maybe it still won't happen," she said.
Yaakov Siton said he too moved his possessions out, but plans to remain until the last moment.
"I'm doing it the way the victim of a robbery does it, when a gun is pointed to his head," he said. "I'm doing it only to save my property."
posted by solitarioh2005 at
1:25 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home