JERUSALEM, 2 August 2005 — The Israeli Army and police were deploying in unprecedented numbers yesterday to block an attempt by tens of thousands of settlers and their supporters to march towards doomed Gaza Strip settlements.
The government ordered organizers of the rally to change their plans, charging that a mass descent on the main settlement bloc of Gush Katif would be “illegal” and exacerbate the risk of violent clashes.
Security sources said 17,000 soldiers and a further 8,000 police were taking part in the operation in southern Israel ahead of the rally today, 15 days before the scheduled start of the pullout of the 8,000 Gaza settlers.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, who met organizers from the main Yesha settlers lobby, banned any demonstration in the town of Sderot out of fear of possible Palestinian rocket attacks, his office said.
Yesha spent the afternoon discussing their next move, divided on whether to compromise on their original plan to march from Sderot to Gush Katif.
The rally is part of a final effort to force Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to rethink his plan to remove settlers from Palestinian territory for the first time since the Gaza Strip and West Bank were occupied in 1967.
Senior Yesha official Shaul Goldstein said he had already been in contact with Mofaz, chief of staff Dan Halutz and national police chief Moshe Karadi about changing their plans.
“I believe the reasons are political not security,” he told AFP.
“If the police do not allow us to get to Gush Katif, we will remain where they stop us but we want to gather in Sderot tomorrow to show our solidarity with Sderot,” which has been a frequent target of rocket attacks, he said.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said any rally that tried to force its way into the Gaza settlements, now a closed military zone, would be “illegal” and if successful, would exacerbate the risk of violence during the pullout.
Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra told the online edition of the Yediot Aharonot newspaper that police would be forced to arrest protesters who did not reverse plans to enter Gush Katif.
Bentzi Lieberman, the chairman of Yesha, acknowledged that the aim was to force a government rethink but stressed that there would be no law breaking.
“Our objective is to annul this plan to expel Jews by all legal means and we have no intention of forcing the police roadblocks,” he said.
While tens of thousands of people are expected to take part in today’s rally, the disengagement plan has the support of a majority of Israelis who are becoming fed up with the intimidating tactics of the settlers.
Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said it was vital that the government should not be intimidated by the settlers.
“There hasn’t been an attempt so blatant, so impudent since (Benito) Mussolini’s march on Rome in 1922, to change, by pedestrian means, the legal decisions made by the head of state,” the top-selling Yediot said.
The disengagement plan has strong support from the international community, including US President George W. Bush.
Two of Sharon’s top aides, Dov Weisglass and Meir Turjeman, were in Washington for talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was expected to reiterate calls for increased coordination with the Palestinians over the pullout.
