JERUSALEM, 29 June 2005 — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned hard-line opponents of his Gaza pullout plan yesterday not to resort to violence against police or soldiers, as activists intensified their protests.
“I am especially warning against the attempts by a small minority of law-breakers — as we saw a few days ago on the seafront in Gush Katif — to use force against the army and the other security forces,” he said.
“This minority does not represent the settler movement. We must all remember that the call for refusal of orders and the attempts to disrupt life in Israel, endanger the existence of the state of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.”
His comments came two days after angry settlers in the Gush Katif settlement bloc mobbed troops who had just demolished 11 abandoned structures on the Gaza seafront in a bid to prevent them from being taken over by ultra-nationalists.
A soldier who refused to take part in the demolition operation was jailed for eight weeks yesterday after being found guilty of insubordination and threatening an officer, an army spokesman said.
Cpl. Avi Bieber, 19, was filmed shouting: “Jews do not expel Jews!” which has become the slogan of the campaign of opposition to the pullout which should start in mid-August. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was expected to petition Attorney General Menahem Mazuz to take steps to prosecute any civilians who used force or violence against police and soldiers, media reports said.
Israeli police were also readying themselves on the eve of a roadblock protest by Beit Leumi, a group of hardcore opponents of the pullout. Police across the country were put on the second highest level of alert amid fears the activists would try to sabotage communications cables, water and power lines.
On Monday, Jewish campaigners pulled off a largely successful protest which saw thousands of motorists pulling over on Israel’s main highways to demonstrate their opposition to the plan to evacuate all 8,000 Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip this summer.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei said he wanted to establish a national unity Cabinet of different Palestinian factions to ensure the planned Israeli withdrawal from Gaza goes smoothly.
“If they (the factions) wish it, we have no objection to the creation of a temporary government of national unity for overseeing the withdrawal,” Qorei said in Gaza City following the weekly Cabinet meeting.
He decided to place certain Palestinian ministries “in a state of emergency until the end of the withdrawal,” he said, so that preparations could be completed allowing the Palestinian Authority to take control in the evacuated zones.
