Settlers accept deal on Sderot protest (against Gaza pullout)

The Jerusalem Post ^ | 2 August 2005 | MATTHEW GUTMAN AND YAAKOV KATZ

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Aug. 2, 2005 14:26
Settlers accept deal on Sderot protest
By MATTHEW GUTMAN AND YAAKOV KATZ

Police and settler leaders finally reached a last-minute deal close to midnight Monday night after days of heated negotiations on the fate of an anti-disengagement rally in the southern Negev town of Sderot Tuesday.

Heads of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip agreed to hold a "short" rally in Sderot between 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. and then move on to Ofakim for the night.

Negotiations will resume on Wednesday to discuss the continuation of the rally, as the disengagement opponents are still bent on reaching Gush Katif as their final destination, which security forces have unyieldingly forbidden.

Earlier in the day, both Police Insp.-Gen. Moshe Karadi and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz had rejected Yesha's demand to hold its march in Sderot, about 800 meters from the Gaza Strip, citing concern that a barrage of Kassam rockets could slam into the crowd. Karadi wanted the rally to be held in Ofakim.

Police had issued an order in accordance with the Disengagement Implementation Law that only residents of the settlements and outsiders with special permits were allowed to enter the Gaza Strip pending evacuation.

Southern District police chief Cmdr. Uri Bar-Lev and OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Dan Harel met council with Chairman Benzi Lieberman late Monday night to hammer out the accord.

The police released a statement Monday night saying if a compromise agreement had failed, the force would enter a state of emergency on Tuesday and would brace for clashes with the tens of thousands expected to attempt to infiltrate Gush Katif.

The council expects about 30,000 at the protest, with activists gathering Monday evening in Sderot and then marching 20 kilometers to Ofakim where the council plans to make its headquarters.

"We intend to stay there indefinitely until we are allowed to march to Gush Katif, a plan which we will not give up," said council spokesman Helik Navon.

The council hopes the rally, which follows a nearly identical protest two weeks ago, will draw enough troops and police to delay disengagement, slated to begin August 15.

But Prime Minister Ariel Sharon seemed to dash those hopes Monday, appealing to Gush Katif settlers to leave their homes now. "Do not be led to believe that disengagement will not be implemented," he said.

Meanwhile, the IDF and police intend to deploy equal numbers of troops and police to secure and control the rally. The army plans to deploy between 12,000 and 14,000 soldiers, said an officer in Southern Command. The IDF "has planned for a number of eventualities including that of settlers or youth trying to cut through the fence," he said.

IDF sources said there was no special terror alert or intelligence that terror groups plan to launch rockets into Sderot.

Senior officers warned that if the settler leaders persisted and went ahead with the Sderot rally, they would clamp a closure on the Negev and stop cars and buses ferrying demonstrators as far north as Kiryat Malachi. For now, police said, several thousand policemen and soldiers were already deployed in the Sderot area.

"If needed," one officer said, "we can... have an additional 15,000 security personnel to deploy in the area."

Asst.-Cmdr. Yossi Paryenti, deputy head of the Negev District police, said Monday night police were preparing for violent clashes with the demonstrators they expected would try and reach Gush Katif.

"The organizers have signed an agreement and are committed to staying in Ofakim," Paryenti said. "We are, however, preparing for clashes and an assortment of scenarios that might arise during the rally."

In Sderot, meanwhile, preparations continued Monday afternoon as young activists canvassed the town of 24,000 for support and tied orange ribbons on nearly every available surface.

And the settlement council began preparing facilities for the thousands it expected, with 40 chemical toilets trucked in on Monday afternoon. Some 300 local families have offered to host protesters during the rally, said resident and rally organizer Kinneret Rosenfeld.

At a meeting with settler leaders in Tel Aviv on Monday, Mofaz called on them to assume responsibility and refrain from holding the protest in Sderot, which is within the range of Kassam rocket attacks and could endanger lives.

While recognizing the settlers' legitimate right to protest, he noted that he was responsible for the safety of all Israelis and declared that human safety overrode everything else.

Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz told the Knesset Law Committee Monday that the demand to march from Sderot to Gush Katif had nothing to do with freedom of speech, but was an attempt "to use force to prevent [the implementation] of decisions made by the authorized institutions of the state."

"Violence and incitement and the delegitimization of the decision of the heads of government lead to an almost certain slide into anarchy and the dismantling of the social and democratic frameworks within which we live," Mazuz said. He warned that this was the red line which the law-enforcement authorities would not allow the opponents of disengagement to cross. He explained that this was the reason for security forces to block the scheduled rally and prevent the protesters from marching into the Gaza Strip.

"The aim of the rally and the operation is to enter Gush Katif, to infiltrate the off-limits area to foil the implementation of the disengagement plan," he said. "This is a public declaration that has not been concealed."

Mazuz also told the committee that if the only way to prevent the rally and march to Gaza was by stopping buses across the country before they set out for Sderot, then he condoned the move. "It is not the preferred way, not the first choice nor the second. It is the last measure. But if it is the only one, the police may use it." He added that those who believe that blocking the buses before they start is illegal can petition the court, which is the only body authorized to interpret the law.

Mazuz rejected the claims of settlement leaders and their supporters in the Knesset that the demonstrators should be allowed to protest because they had promised not to use violence. He said, "Force does not only mean attacking soldiers and police," but tens of thousands of people trying to force their way through roadblocks into an off-limit area is also force.

In his first act as a member of the National Union, MK Effi Eitam on Monday urged all those who support democracy to come to Tuesday's anti-disengagement rally irrespective of their views on disengagement.

What's at stake is not just the future of the Jews in Gaza, but the right of Israeli citizens to protest government decisions, he said.

"We call on all citizens to come to Sderot to defend democracy," said Eitam, speaking at a press conference in Gush Katif announcing that he and MK Yitzhak Levy, both formerly of the National Religious Party, were joining the National Union. In back of them was a banner that said: "Sharon is evacuating Jews under fire."

Eitam said that by prohibiting the rally, Sharon was abolishing the last privilege remaining to disengagement opponents, the right to protest. He warned that these same tactics could be used against anyone who wanted to oppose a government ruling. He said that by prohibiting the rally the government had crossed a red line.

"In Sderot we will return the color to the democratic process," he said.

In an act of support for anti-disengagement protesters who have tangled with the law, MK Arye Eldad (National Union) handed out medals on orange ribbons to three who had been arrested by police for such activities.

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Let us hope for a peaceful protest.

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