The Israeli government on Monday night appeared to give ground to thousands of anti-disengagement protesters by allowing them to continue an illegal march to the Gaza settlements.
Thousands of police officers and soldiers were deployed to block the marchers’ way but after a two-hour standoff on Monday night, the police and army pulled back.
The marchers had walked about 5km from the southern Israel town of Netivot, where they had been met by a wall of security forces stretching for more than a kilometre. Their aim was to reach a campsite as the first step en route to Gush Katif, the largest block of settlements in Gaza.
On Sunday, the police declared the march illegal. On Monday they stopped hundreds of buses picking up passengers in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities.
Avi Zilber, a police spokesperson, said that 20 000 police and soldiers had been deployed throughout southern Israel to control the march.
But the Yesha Council, the settlers’ pressure group, had urged Israelis to get to Netivot ”by car, by train, by foot”.
As the day went on, thousands of protesters, including children and teenagers, all dressed in orange — the colour they had chosen to symbolise their opposition to Ariel Sharon’s plan to evacuate settlements in Gaza and the West Bank — managed to reach their destination.
There were occasional scuffles and a few arrests but the police did not look as if they would need the water cannon they had in reserve.
The marchers were due to spend the night at a pre-prepared campsite, Kfar Maimon. Today they plan to march a further 8km, before arriving at the Kissufim checkpoint, the entry point to Gush Katif, on Wednesday.
Last week, the government closed the Gaza settlements to non-residents in anticipation of this week’s demonstration.
The protesters’ arrival in Gush Katif is timed to coincide with a vote in the knesset on delaying the withdrawal for three months.
In Netivot, the crowd who gathered to begin the march on Monday afternoon sheltered from the sun as they waited for more protesters to arrive. Many carried backpacks with camping gear, but just as many planned to return home.
One speaker told them: ”Sharon and his family are trying to stop us getting to Gush Katif. They won’t succeed. We won’t let him silence us.”
Michelle and Louis Gordon travelled with their two children from Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem, avoiding the notice of police by removing anything that identified them as anti-disengagement.
”We removed the car stickers and orange ribbons from the car and the police did not stop us. It’s ridiculous to think that in democratic Israel you have to remove signs of your political affiliation to travel around the country,” said Gordon.
”In our town the bus drivers were told that if they didn’t leave they would have their buses confiscated,” said Mrs Gordon. ”The people waiting were then told to disperse or be arrested. People here are with their families. They have no violent intentions so there is no reason to stop them travelling.”
Eytan Suchard (39) a software engineer, said he had travelled for three hours to get to Netivot: ”In the end I had to drive off road to avoid the checkpoints. If it wasn’t for them there would be thousands more people here.
”The police have succeeded but even if we do not stop the government we have shown that we do not agree with this plan. And also there is something metaphysical in all this, we hope that God will hear our prayers.”
Palestinian paramedics in the Gaza Strip town of Deir el-Balah said Israeli troops shot dead Ragheb Masri (14) near a junction adjoining the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom on Monday. The military said it had fired warning shots ahead of vehicles trying to run the roadblock, but the shots were fired into open ground where no pedestrians had been seen. – Guardian Unlimited Â