Gaza Disengagement/Expulsion Live Thread

Israeli border policemen console each other after informing settlers they must leave the Jewish settlement of Ganei Tal in the Gush Katif settlement bloc, southern Gaza Strip.

A large force of soldiers and police officers in anti-riot gear marched into the hardline Gaza settlement of Kfar Darom at daybreak Thursday, kicking off the second day of forcible evacuation.

Thousands of troops entered on foot from a side gate at the south side of the settlement, after settlers blocked the main entrance. The troops surrounded the synagogue, where hundreds of people had barricaded themselves. Many others were on the roof, which was fortified with razor wire. Forces also took over three nearby buildings where people were barricaded inside.

Security forces agreed not to enter the synagogue until after morning prayers.

"I believe that it may be more difficult in Kfar Darom because that is indeed where a more hard-core group has congregated," said a police commander involved in the disengagement, Aharon Franco.

Franco told Israel Radio that most of the people holed up in the synagogue were not residents of Kfar Darom.

Cement barriers with the words "God is king" written on them lined the road to the synagogue.

A small group of teenagers with skullcaps on their heads confronted a group of soldiers, driving a female soldier to tears. "What are you doing? Are you crazy?" they screamed.

Army officers said they expected stiff opposition. Up to 2,000 settlers and supporters were in the settlement and threatening to resist evacuation.

Most of the security forces in Gaza were concentrated at Kfar Darom, leaving token forces at other sites, including Neveh Dekalim, the focus of evacuation operations on the first day. Security forces will continue to evacuate Neveh Dekalim on Thursday, and also plan to evacuate the settlement of Shirat Hayam.

All of the Gaza Strip settlements will be evacuated by next Tuesday, and perhaps even by Sunday, senior officers in the Israel Defense Forces' Southern Command predicted Wednesday.

The first day of the forcible evacuation saw five settlements - Tel Katifa, Morag, Ganei Tal, Bedolah and Kerem Atzmona - completely evacuated Wednesday.

In addition, some 150 families were evacuated from Neveh Dekalim, the largest of the Gaza communities.

In total, 533 homes of 1,523 people - about half of them infiltrators from outside Gaza - were evacuated, leaving some 600 families plus about 1,500 non-residents still to go. These individuals are located in the settlements of Netzer Hazani, Katif, Shirat Hayam , Kfar Yam, Atzmona, Netzarim, Kfar Darom and Elei Sinai.

Wednesday's evacuations proceeded with very little violence. In most cases, soldiers escorted the residents out of their homes but did not need to carry them. Often, this was due to local agreements negotiated between settlement leaders and the evacuating forces.

Only one person was moderately injured, while 24 were lightly hurt during the operation. The injured included 12 soldiers, four policeman and 10 civilians.

In addition, seven people were arrested for assaulting soldiers or policemen. There were no reported cases of soldiers refusing to participate in the operation.

Some of the evacuees left in their own cars, but most left on 60 buses brought in for this purpose. The bulk of them were taken to hotels throughout the country.

On Thursday, the evacuating forces plan to focus on the main center of resistance in Neveh Dekalim - the synagogue compound, where between 1,000 and 2,000 people are holed up, most of them teens from outside the Gaza Strip.

However, both the settlers and the army expect the operation to be completed without violence.

Following the evacuation of the Neveh Dekalim synagogue, the army plans to evacuate the rest of settlement. IDF sources said that a significant portion of the residents had already left.

At least four other settlements are also expected to be evacuated on Thursday, with Netzer Hazani, Gan Or, Shirat Hayam and Kfar Yam seen as the likely targets.

Shirat Hayam is considered the most problematic, as a large number of right-wing extremists are holed up there.

The army is also negotiating with Netzarim in an effort to reach an agreement under which residents would take down the barricades that they have erected around the settlements and leave voluntarily. In Netzarim, an agreement appears to be emerging under which the residents will depart voluntarily next Monday.

Police and army officers said that they are extremely satisfied with the progress of the evacuation so far. However, the army is worried by the possibility that Hamas might make good on its threat to exact vengeance in Gaza this week for Wednesday's murder of four Palestinians in the West Bank settlement of Shilo. On Wednesday night, the Gush Katif-Kissufim road came under rifle fire while a convoy of hundreds of cars and buses filled with evacuated settlers was passing. As a result, traffic on the road had to be halted for some time. Shots were also fired at Kfar Darom from nearby Dir al-Balah.

Frequently met by tears
In the settlements that were evacuated on Wednesday, soldiers and police assigned to the task arrived at 9 A.M. They spent the first few hours going house to house, trying to persuade people to leave quietly. Most refused, but many did begin packing. On their second visit, the troops delivered an ultimatum: Either leave in half an hour or be removed. Frequently, they were met by tears, shouting, pleas and difficult scenes. One Neveh Dekalim father, for instance, handed his infant daughter to a female soldier and screamed: "Take her and expel her!"

While most residents eventually agreed to be escorted out by the soldiers, there were dozens of cases in which troops had to enter a house and carry the family members out one by one, four policemen or soldiers to a person. In some cases, families barricaded themselves in their houses and refused to open the doors, forcing the troops to break them down.

In Neveh Dekalim, a group of Chabad Hasidim shut themselves into a bomb shelter and threatened to commit suicide. Police negotiating teams, aided by MK Meir Porush (United Torah Judaism), tried to talk them into leaving; a
police team finally broke into the shelter and removed them. They did not resist.

A woman from Neveh Dekalim who threatened to commit suicide was also eventually removed without resistence.

In Tel Katifa, Ganei Tal and Kerem Atzmona, residents agreed to leave without resistance, but negotiations on similar deals in Neveh Dekalim and Atzmona failed. As a result, the evacuation of the latter was postponed.

In Neveh Dekalim, the evacuating forces had originally planned to break into the synagogue compound and evict the teens holed up there Wednesday night.

However, after negotiations with MK Effi Eitam (Religious Zionism), who has been living in the settlement for the past few months, the troops agreed to postpone the operation until Thursday. Throughout the day Wednesday, prayer services and Torah lessons were held in the compound even as houses were being evacuated elsewhere in the settlement. However, when Neveh Dekalim residents
themselves organized a public prayer service at one point, the army agreed to halt the evacuation while it took place.

There were a few clashes between settler teens and the evacuating forces in Neveh Dekalim, as a result of which police arrested some 200 of the teens for being in Gaza illegally and removed them from the Strip.

In the Kerem Atzmona outpost, the voluntary evacuation encountered a temporary hitch when residents asked the troops to bring them boxes for packing, but set the boxes on fire upon receiving them. Nevertheless, these residents, too, eventually left without resistance.

Violent Expulsion in N´vei Dekalim Synagogue

Following hours of waiting, the army/police have nearly completed the violent expulsion of over 1,000 youths from N'vei Dekalim's main synagogue.

At 3:20 PM, the local police commander announced by megaphone, "Your stay here is illegal. In ten minutes, we will enter and remove you. Buses will take you to Merkaz Shapira and Jerusalem."

The large forces began to enter from two, possibly three, different sides some 15 minutes later. The intense prayers continued inside all the while. In the boys' synagogue - the Sephardic one - several of them linked arms and legs in a last attempt to make their eviction difficult.

The soldiers then pushed their way in and began trying to evict them. It proved very difficult, and the scene was filled with chants of "A Jew doesn't evict a Jew," and, "Refuse Orders!", as well as pushing, pulling, screaming and violence. After a half hour, only 15-20 people had been removed.

As the hours passed, however, the expulsion began to go faster, and some estimated that it would be completed by this evening.

The other synagogue, where close to 1,000 girls were gathered since Tuesday, also began to be emptied of the protestors shortly afterwards. Rabbi Shlomo Aviner performed the act of mourning by rending his shirt, and eulogized the synagogue.

Among the other settlement leaders on the scene were Yesha Council leader Bentzy Lieberman, Amanah settlement organization head Ze'ev Chever (Zambish), Rabbi Chaim Druckman, Rabbi Avinoam Horowitz and many others.

Earlier, Lieberman said the youths would not leave on their own, but that they would definitely not employ violence against those who come to remove them.

The police had been trying to reach a situation in which the youths - many hundreds of boys in the Sephardic synagogue and several hundred girls in the Ashkenazi synagogue, as well as hundreds more milling about outside - walk out on their own.

--Pictured: some of the hundreds of girls inside the Ashkenazi synagogue--

Earlier, several rabbis made a heart-rending plea to the police to speak with Prime Minister Sharon and have him agree to leave the synagogues intact.

Former Knesset Member Rabbi Chanan Porat tearfully declared Thursday night that the same Sharon government that refused to allow soldiers to remove terrorists who hid in Bethlehem churches last year has ordered soldiers to evict Jews from Gush Katif's synagogues without batting an eyelash.

He spoke to an Israel radio reporter who was describing the violence between expulsion opponents and security forces and asked Porat," Was all this necessary? Isn't this [scene] the fault of the national religious [camp]?"

Porat said the scene was not necessary and the fault is the "evil Prime Minister Ariel Sharon." The Israel Radio reporter, in questioning Porat, accused the opponents of being responsible for desecration of holy objects by holding Torah scrolls during the forced evacuation.

Israeli troops enter the women's section of the synagogue at the settlement of Neve Dekalim, Gaza Strip, August 18, 2005. Dozens of Israeli riot police used cranes, ladders and water cannon on Thursday to storm the rooftop of a synagogue in a Gaza Strip settlement and confront ultranationalist youths resisting evacuation.

A Jewish girl cries as she is removed by Israeli troops from the women's section of the synagogue at the settlement of Neve Dekalim, Gaza Strip, August 18, 2005. Dozens of Israeli riot police used cranes, ladders and water cannon on Thursday to storm the rooftop of a synagogue in a Gaza Strip settlement and confront ultranationalist youths resisting evacuation

Israeli pullout from Gaza as a victory for their suicide bombings and rocket attacks, and some Israelis fear they will resume their violence once the withdrawal is complete.

A Palestinian youth hangs Palestinian national flags in front of the Jewish settlement of Neve Dekalim in the southern Gaza Strip August 18, 2005. Israeli troops stormed two Gaza Strip synagogues and dragged out screaming settlers and supporters on Thursday in assaults on the last bastions of resistance to a pullout from the occupied territory.

A Palestinian flag flies in front of an Israeli tank guarding the Jewish settlement of Ganei Tal in the southern Gaza Strip August 18,2005.

A VERY sad BTTT.

Less then four years ago they also celebrated

please remove me from this ping list, just way too much to keep up with...is there a condenced list of whats going on in Israel?