- Title: ISRAEL: TENS OF THOUSANDS OF RIGHTIST ISRAELIS RALLY AGAINST GAZA PULLOUT
- Date: 13th August 2005
- Summary: (W4) TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (AUGUST 11, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF OPPONENTS OF ISRAEL'S PLAN TO EVACUATE SETTLEMENTS IN GAZA AND NORTHERN WEST BANK RALLYING 0.16 2. ISRAELI POLICEMEN GUARDING PROTEST AREA; PROTESTERS; PROTESTERS HOLDING SIGNS READING 'GUSH KATIF, I SWEAR'; PROTESTERS HOLDING SIGN READING 'JEW-FREE GAZA WELCOMES AL-QAE
- Embargoed: 28th August 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL
- Country: Israel
- Reuters ID: LVA6W889D29EC780AEUKDZNOHBFT
- Story Text: Tens of thousands of rightist Israelis rally against
a Gaza pull-out.
Tens of thousands of rightist Israelis opposed to a Gaza pullout
rallied in central Tel Aviv on Thursday (August 11) in what could be a last
outpouring of resolve to block evacuation of settlers from the occupied
territory.
Settlers and their supporters packed Rabin Square, named for slain
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, architect of land-for-peace deals with the
Palestinians, and a traditional protest site for Israel's dovish left.
Months of demonstrations, road blockades and sabotage acts have failed
to keep Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from overcoming political and
legal hurdles en route to the removal of all 21 settlements in Gaza and four
of 120 in the West Bank.
Organisers said the crowd, spilling into nearby streets, numbered half
a million. Israel media estimated 100,000 or more, making it the largest of
the series of protests settlers have held recently against Sharon's
"Disengagement Plan".
"A Jew-free Gaza welcomes al Qaeda" stood out among banners
carried by the throng, many garbed in the orange standard of the anti-pullout
movement.
Shortly before the mass protest, Israel's army shut Jewish settlements
in the occupied Gaza Strip to non-residents to choke off a quiet influx of
rightist radicals bent on obstructing the pullout scheduled to begin on Aug.
17.
The move, taken two days ahead of schedule, betrayed concern that
hundreds of radical Jews who recently entered settlements with temporary
visitor passes were digging in to reinforce resistance to evacuation vowed by
hardline settlers.
Polls show a narrow majority of Israelis back Sharon's strategy to
defuse conflict with the Palestinians by ceding some of the occupied land they
want for a state of their own.
Israeli media say radical Jews have outwitted an earlier ban on
anti-pullout activists in settlements by claiming to be relatives or friends
of settlers or using false identity papers.
Sharon is undertaking the first uprooting of Jewish settlements from
territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and which Palestinians
want for an independent state.
Palestinians welcome the prospect but suspect Sharon devised the plan
as a smokescreen to cement Israel's hold on much larger West Bank settlement
blocs he says are strategically vital.
Around 240,000 settlers live in fortified enclaves among 3.8 million
Palestinians, who fear rapid settlement growth in the West Bank will strip
them of land central to their dream of a viable state. The West Bank is
approximately 15 times the size of Gaza.
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