WEST BANK: SETTLERS FIND TIME FOR SOME WATERY FUN AS THEY PREPARE FOR THE SERIOUS BUSINESS OF DISENGAGEMENT

Record ID: 566276

  • Title: WEST BANK: SETTLERS FIND TIME FOR SOME WATERY FUN AS THEY PREPARE FOR THE SERIOUS BUSINESS OF DISENGAGEMENT
  • Date: 12th August 2005
  • Summary: (EU) HOMESH SETTLEMENT, WEST BANK (AUGUST 11, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. SLV SETTLERS TRAINING WITH WATER GUNS AFTER FOR A POSSIBLE ATTACK ON THEIR COMMUNITY (VARIOUS) 2. SLV SETTLERS TAKING PART IN DRILL, RUNNING ON HILL TOPS, HIDING BEHIND TREES; SETTLER WEARING COMBAT VEST AIMING A WATER GUN AT IMAGINARY ENEMY AND SHOUTING 'FIRE'; SLV SETTLER TAKING COVER BEHIND A WALL (VARIOUS) 3. SLV SETTLERS IN DRILL; SLV SETTLER RUNNING FROM BEHIND CAR TO NEXT HILL; SLV SETTLERS RUNNING TOWARDS COMMUNITY'S KINDERGARTEN TO CATCH IMAGINARY TERRORIST (VARIOUS) 2.03 4. SLV ISRAELI ARMY OFFICERS NEXT TO SETTLEMENT'S ARMOURY; MV SETTLEMENT'S SECURITY OFFICER TAKING WEAPONS OUT OF ARMOURY; MV OFFICERS CHECKING AND COUNTING WEAPONS (VARIOUS) 2.42 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 27th August 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: HOMESH SETTLEMENT, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA5F3HRBXFR7GVZDQXUMGHBGLM4
  • Story Text: West Bank settlers find time for some watery fun as
    they prepare for the serious business of disengagement.

    Brandishing waterguns and chasing imaginary targets
    the civil security squad of Homesh in the West Bank took to
    the streets on Thursday (August 11, 2005) to carry out routine
    security operations.

    The squad had to resort to the unusual scene after
    being forced to hand over their weapons to the Israeli army.

    They were among some 240,000 settlers who were ordered
    to hand back their arms ahead of a planned withdrawal from
    the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank, scheduled to
    take place next week.

    Army officers who arrived on Thursday morning to
    collect the settlers' weapons were surprised to find the
    settlers as resolute as ever, despite their new wet
    ammunition.

    Residents of Homesh, one of four settlements to be
    evacuated in the northern West Bank, surrendered a handful
    of guns to local security officer on Wednesday (August 10).

    The weapons, which were originally given to them by the
    Israeli army over the last few years were deemed no longer
    necessary by Israel now that settlers are slated for
    relocation.

    Settlers will be ordered by the Israeli army to abandon
    their homes on Monday (August 15) and will be forcibly
    removed on Wednesday (August 17) if they do not obey the
    evacuation order.

    In the past three weeks there has been a sharp rise in
    the number of settlers applying for compensation to more
    than half of those due to be uprooted, signalling they
    would go quietly.

    Settlers who resist evacuation risk losing a large
    chunk of compensation guaranteed by legislation.

    Israeli religious rightists condemn the plan, saying it
    forsakes Jewish claims to biblical land and rewards a
    Palestinian uprising that began in 2000.

    Palestinians welcome the prospect of regaining some of
    the territory that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East
    war. But they suspect Sharon devised the plan as a
    smokescreen to cement Israel's hold on much larger West
    Bank settlement blocs he says can never be ceded on
    strategic grounds.

    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 15 times
    the size of tiny Gaza.


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