Hundreds of Israeli settlers danced, sang and studied Jewish texts in the rain outside Parliament on Monday in a sit-in against government plans to dismantle settlements in the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank.
The protest was part of a mass campaign by settlers against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s ”disengagement plan”, which he hopes to implement this summer. Sharon has said it is no longer realistic for 8 200 settlers to live in the Gaza Strip among 1,3-million Palestinians.
With political efforts to stop the plan foundering, the settlers have stepped up their campaign to rally public opposition to it, distributing bumper stickers and plastering Jerusalem with protest posters. The sit-in, which began on Monday and was planned to last for three weeks, was the latest protest against the plan.
Huddling under black umbrellas, religious students listened to teachers give lessons from the Torah on civil disobedience and defiance of government orders. Nearby, a long tent was set up where the demonstrators said they would sleep, eat and study for three weeks.
”Sharon knows that when we say we will try something and say we will get security in return, it doesn’t work,” said settler Amy Rosenbluh (53), who emigrated from Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1980 and said she would sleep overnight at the protest. ”They [Palestinians] want to get rid of Israel and this is the first step for them.”
Some of the settlers held signs over their heads to shelter themselves from the rain, as they danced and sang religious songs.
They handed out bumper stickers opposing the plan. Settlers hope their campaign will prevent final government approval of the withdrawal.
Near one tent, settler Rochelle Cohen (35) stood with her four young children, one in a stroller and one sheltered by a Snow White umbrella.
Cohen, a lawyer originally from Melbourne, Australia, said her children are ”outraged” by Sharon’s plan to hand over parts of the biblical Land of Israel to the Palestinians. Many observant Jews believe these territories include the West Bank and Gaza Strip. — Sapa-AP