August 15 Gaza strip settlers frustrate eviction plans
Gaza strip settlers frustrate eviction plans
By Harvey Morris in Neve Dekalim
Published: August 15 2005 21:01 | Last updated: August 15 2005 21:01
Jewish settlers and their supporters on Monday locked the electronic gates of communities in the southern Gaza Strip, frustrating attempts by Israeli security forces to distribute eviction orders declaring their presence in the territory illegal.
Hundreds of youths and girls sat behind the gate of Neve Dekalim, capital of the largest Gush Katif block, after about 150 police advanced on foot towards the settlement early on Monday.
Some shouted taunts of “Gestapo” and “SS” as police removed a barricade of rubbish bins and tyres before taking up positions outside the gate. Although some security forces entered the settlement by a back gate there was no attempt to force the main gate ahead of the expiry on Wednesday of a 48-hour grace period.
After incidents early on Monday in which youths cut the tyres of army vehicles, one pro-withdrawal newspaper said the protests by predominantly religious nationalists against the so-called disengagement plan had turned into a revolt against the state.
Monday’s police convoy to Neve Dekalim was trailed by busloads of soldiers, a water cannon and a bulldozer.
As police and soldiers succeeded in distributing letters in some isolated and virtually empty Gaza settlements, the cabinet voted 16-4 to target Gush Katif in the next wave of evacuations.
The failure of settlers to accept the eviction order, signed by Major General Dan Harel, head of the army’s southern command, will not delay or prevent its implementation.
The army plans to empty all 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank by September 4.
Settler leaders in Neve Dekalim later on Wednesday agreed to open the gate for container trucks to collect the belongings of those who had decided to move out. The police and army did not attempt to follow the vehicles in.
Along the tree-lined streets of this community of 2,500, many families, even those who have vowed to stay, were packing their belongings into cardboard boxes.
At one red-tiled bungalow typical of the settlements’ suburban-style dwellings, Bat Sinai Jibli said she was shipping belongings out of the home she had lived in for 22 years but that she and her family were determined to stay until the army came to remove them.
Neve Dekalim appears to hold the largest number of outsiders who infiltrated Gaza from Israel and the West Bank after non-residents were barred last month.
The Haaretz daily wrote in an editorial on Monday of an open revolt against the decisions of a sovereign government.
“The seditious talk of the rabbis, which is likely to have tragic consequences on the ground, leaves no room for empathy or complacency,” the newspaper said.
Many of the frontline protesters are religious students in their teens.
By Harvey Morris in Neve Dekalim
Published: August 15 2005 21:01 | Last updated: August 15 2005 21:01
Jewish settlers and their supporters on Monday locked the electronic gates of communities in the southern Gaza Strip, frustrating attempts by Israeli security forces to distribute eviction orders declaring their presence in the territory illegal.
Hundreds of youths and girls sat behind the gate of Neve Dekalim, capital of the largest Gush Katif block, after about 150 police advanced on foot towards the settlement early on Monday.
Some shouted taunts of “Gestapo” and “SS” as police removed a barricade of rubbish bins and tyres before taking up positions outside the gate. Although some security forces entered the settlement by a back gate there was no attempt to force the main gate ahead of the expiry on Wednesday of a 48-hour grace period.
After incidents early on Monday in which youths cut the tyres of army vehicles, one pro-withdrawal newspaper said the protests by predominantly religious nationalists against the so-called disengagement plan had turned into a revolt against the state.
Monday’s police convoy to Neve Dekalim was trailed by busloads of soldiers, a water cannon and a bulldozer.
As police and soldiers succeeded in distributing letters in some isolated and virtually empty Gaza settlements, the cabinet voted 16-4 to target Gush Katif in the next wave of evacuations.
The failure of settlers to accept the eviction order, signed by Major General Dan Harel, head of the army’s southern command, will not delay or prevent its implementation.
The army plans to empty all 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank by September 4.
Settler leaders in Neve Dekalim later on Wednesday agreed to open the gate for container trucks to collect the belongings of those who had decided to move out. The police and army did not attempt to follow the vehicles in.
Along the tree-lined streets of this community of 2,500, many families, even those who have vowed to stay, were packing their belongings into cardboard boxes.
At one red-tiled bungalow typical of the settlements’ suburban-style dwellings, Bat Sinai Jibli said she was shipping belongings out of the home she had lived in for 22 years but that she and her family were determined to stay until the army came to remove them.
Neve Dekalim appears to hold the largest number of outsiders who infiltrated Gaza from Israel and the West Bank after non-residents were barred last month.
The Haaretz daily wrote in an editorial on Monday of an open revolt against the decisions of a sovereign government.
“The seditious talk of the rabbis, which is likely to have tragic consequences on the ground, leaves no room for empathy or complacency,” the newspaper said.
Many of the frontline protesters are religious students in their teens.
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