Israeli settlers' march halted near edge of Gaza, some infiltrate; Sharon wants new Jerusalem wall

The coverage of the disengagement in Haaretz is real good. There are roughly four major forces pressuring the situation right now: the Israelis are basically divided between the hardcore religious nationalists, who oppose the withdrawal and have actually come out to protest, versus the rest of Israel. On the Palestinian side, Hamas is upping the violence in an attempt to weaken the Palestinian Authority's wobbly control of Gaza, so that Hamas can be the real winner once the settlers are gone.

"IDF: Settlers slipping into Gaza":

The Yesha Council of settlements reneged on a verbal agreement with security officials by deciding to continue the demonstration at Kfar Maimon, senior army officers said last night. The Israel Defense Forces believe that the demonstrators plan to stay there for a long time - to exhaust the security forces.

Army sources said that right-wing activists are also slipping into Gush Katif while the army's attention is focused on Kfar Maimon. They estimated that some 600 nonresidents had infiltrated Gaza in the week since it was closed, most of them in the cars of Gush residents. Since the start of the year, some 1,500 people have moved to Gush Katif.

As of last night, thousands of demonstrators remained in Kfar Maimon, surrounded by more than 20,000 policemen and soldiers. In the evening, they tried to continue their march toward Gush Katif, but were forced to give up when faced with a wall of policemen and soldiers. Settler leaders continued to vow that the march would happen.

More about the nasty Jerusalem wall they are trying to throw up from Amira Hass: "On the slope of Jewish democracy":

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is not dividing Jerusalem. Neither is Minister Haim Ramon. They have simply found a faster and more efficient way than those tried before to get rid of tens of thousands of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem - after the process of robbing them of their lands for the benefit of the Jewish residents has been exhausted.

At the beginning of last week, the government decided to speed up the construction of the separation fence in the Jerusalem area, which will also surround and imprison the residents of three East Jerusalem neighborhoods: the Shoafat refugee camp, and the Salaam and Dar Khamis neighborhoods in Anata. For more than a year and a half from the time the route was set, the state was in no hurry to build, and it delayed replying to the petitions filed by attorney Danny Seideman on behalf of neighborhood residents. Now, when all the spotlights are on the incidents surrounding the disengagement, the state is rushing to construct a concrete wall and watchtowers, which have cut off the residents from their city and their entire way of life.

The major summary of what happened yesterday:

According to Peres, the actions of disengagement foes in recent days is the best proof that the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank settlements should be evacuated as soon as possible, and allow the thousands of police officers and officers to face the real task of fighting terror, crime and violence.

Meretz-Yahad leaders convened Thursday and called on the government to advance the pullout, saying that doing so would prevent an "unnecessary and dangerous war of attrition with those trying to prevent the disengagement by violent and undemocratic means."

Officials might discuss moving up the pullout with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who arrived in the region later Thursday, according to another senior government official speaking on condition of anonymity.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said he hoped Rice's visit would trigger a "comprehensive diplomatic process," with the pullout from Gaza as the first step.

The evacuation originally was to have begun in mid-July, but was pushed back to mid-August, ostensibly out of consideration for observing a three-week mourning period - beginning Sunday - for the destruction of the biblical Jewish Temples. Critics said the pullout was delayed because the government was far behind in its preparations.
[......]
Security forces in the Negev town of Kfar Maimon on Thursday morning dismantled their temporary headquarters and most troops left the area after anti-disengagement protesters decided against continuing a banned march.

The heads of the Yesha Council of Settlements announced Wednesday night that the march to the Gush Katif settlement bloc was over, and that they would instead try to use small groups to infiltrate into the Strip, which was last week declared closed to non-resident Israelis.

According to estimates some 200 protesters are expected to remain in Kfar Maimon.

Yesha leader Benzi Lieberman told protesters Wednesday night that the attempt to reach Gush Katif with a massive march would be replaced by infiltration in small groups.

"We will get there bit by bit, and in two weeks' time we'll have another 10,000 people in Gush Katif," Lieberman said. The number of settlers set to evacuate the Strip under the disengagement is approximately 9,000.

Lieberman also asked all those who were able to remain in Kfar Maimon to do so in order to force large numbers of police to stay there as well. Military sources said settlers intend to employ this tactic in order to wear down the security forces ahead of the disengagement to hamper their operational capabilities.

More below on the disengagement, as well as Hamas causing problems for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza. At the end some creepy statements from a wild rightwinger.....

Nadav Shragai, who is the regular Haaretz settler correspondent and fairly sympathetic to them: The Opposition / Practical losers, media winners:

More than anything else, the pullout opponents are worried about the picture of police and demonstrators clashing. In their hearts they pray that if violence does break out, it will come from the police.

In this "love march," the demonstrators sing to the soldiers "we love you"; Effi Eitam is photographed embracing the commander of the Southern District of the police.
[......]
Yesterday, another 1,000 demonstrators marched toward Kfar Maimon, and additional groups were seen organizing in Sderot. The win/loss calculation of this battle has two sides: the media and the practical. On the practical level, the government is the winner so far. Masses of pullout opponents did not reach Gush Katif, and this fact probably won't change. On the media level, the protesters are the winners for the meantime. As the underdogs, they set the media and public agenda, and even managed to gain some sympathy, thanks to the harsh measures of the police and the sacrifice and devotion of the protesters over the past few days.

Visually, the pictures we saw from Kfar Maimon were reminiscent of the orange revolution in Ukraine - an army of protesters headed by determined leaders. In practical terms, the difference is huge: in Ukraine, people with a wider variety of opinions took part in the protest. In the "engagement march" only the national religious camp is taking part. The secular opponents to disengagement stayed home.

Thousands left Kfar Maimon yesterday morning either because the heat was too much for them or they were daunted by the sight of huge numbers of troops around Kfar Maimon, and convinced there was no way they would get to the Gush. In the evening, things changed - more arrived, fewer left.

Also there is an interview with Mohammed Dahlan, the Palestinian Authority Civil Affairs Minister. "Dahlan: Hamas is trying to carry out a military coup against the PA":

Palestinian Authority Civil Affairs Minister Mohammed Dahlan told Haaretz this week that Hamas is trying to carry out a military coup against the PA.

"When someone tries to take over a police station by means of a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, that is an attempted military coup," he said.

Dahlan also said that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Hamas have the same goal: destroying the PA.

[.....]Dahlan admits that Hamas is stronger today in Gaza than the PA. "I'm surprised that the PA hasn't collapsed yet," he says.
Kind of classic: "Neveh Dekalim / `Aren't you ashamed to be standing here?'"

But the roadblock brought [the settlers'] target audience directly into their hands. No publicist could have dreamed a better setup: The police, arms locked, and the Israel Defense Forces troops behind them are not allowed to move. They are a captive audience, an open target.

During times of calm every protester turns preacher, orator, prophet, confidant, friend. Only a few inches separate the speakers and their audience, they stand only a breath away. "Think of yourself, not of me. It will destroy your soul from within, your Jewish soul," a youth said, preaching to a policeman not to take part in the evacuation. Such monologues abound along the row of police. For the most part they remain silent, trying to avoid the protesters' gaze, but sometimes they respond, or begin a dialogue: the Holocaust, Golda, Begin, Judaism - everything is discussed. "You will have children in a few years," says a protester, with a look of pity. "What will you tell them? I uprooted thousands of Jews from their homes? How will you face them? And what about the Jewish graves, no, listen to me, this is the time to stop. Don't let them brainwash you." [......] The protester followed [the policewoman]: "You're a Jew, Etti, when your boy is eight days old you will circumcise him, right? What will you say to him?"

Here is an argument from the right-wing Israel Harel. It is fairly spooky. "When the government loses control":

There is no doubt that the delegitimization of the settlers and their supporters has in recent months created a parallel process in which the injured public - mainly because government institutions have provided it with valid justifications - has in response begun delegitimizing the government and all the institutions that have mobilized completely behind it. The most normative public in the country, which is careful to observe even the most trivial as well as the most serious precepts of both criminal and moral law, is now ready, because the inhibitions against doing so have disappeared, to respond by breaking laws in areas that could shake the foundations of those government bodies that have risen up against it - and to pay the price.

And this, in my view, is the real disengagement, far more fateful than the diplomatic one, that Sharon has caused, with backing from all those state institutions that have enlisted on his side. "Here we have an attempt by tens of thousands to undermine the foundations of the government," declared Elyakim Haetzni, the leading advocate of nonviolent civil disobedience, with satisfaction. The government, he said, is panicking and playing into our hands. The precedent of employing the army is a clear sign of loss of control that brings the end of the Sharon government near.

And one of the listeners responded: Once, I thought you were an extremist, an angry prophet who always sees only the bad. Today, you should know, I and those like me, ordinary members of the religious bourgeoisie, are beginning to agree with you. Consider the silence of the jurists and all the other defenders of human rights in the face of the unbelievable step of using the army at Kfar Maimon. Even during the Arab riots of October 2000, the government did not dare use the army against Arab citizens of Israel. Only here, since Sharon knows that the High Court of Justice will back him - even though this precedent is liable to be used against the Arabs in the future - has he dared to use the army against the settlers.

To Dr. Yitzhak Weiss, a medical doctor, historian and biographer of Herzl (in French), the use of the army against one's own citizens recalls the government's loss of control on the eve of the Russian revolution. As was beautifully described in the film "Battleship Potemkin," he noted, the beginning of the czar's end was when the army, rather than the police, was sent in to end the workers' strikes. The soldiers then switched sides, and thus began the revolt that changed history.

[.......]And, undoubtedly because of the achievement of having tens of thousands show up for a lengthy, exhausting mission, the very atmosphere tingles with the feeling that the goal - stopping the uprooting - is achievable. And there is certainly an educational message, and perhaps even something more, in the sentence printed on the orange shirts worn by many of the youth: "The eternal people is not afraid of a long road."