Netivot, Israel – Some 20,000 police and soldiers were deployed today in southern Israel to block what was billed as the biggest march yet of Gaza withdrawal opponents – a crucial test run for security forces and protesters ahead of the pullout planned for August.
Organizers said marchers will try to reach Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip even though police have declared the demonstration illegal and last week barred nonresidents from entering the Gaza settlements.
The frequency of Palestinian attacks from Gaza dipped today after a violent weekend, when more than 100 rockets and mortars were fired at Jewish settlements in Gaza and Israeli towns just outside. Israel’s vice premier said Israel would not invade Gaza if Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas stops the militants.
Police and settler leaders said they expected tens of thousands of participants in the demonstration today. The crowd was to assemble in the southern Israeli town of Netivot, for the first leg of a three-day march to Gaza, 15 miles away.
Some 12,000 police and 8,000 soldiers were being deployed throughout southern Israel to stop the crowd before it reaches Gaza, said police spokesman Avi Zelba. “It won’t be easy,” he said.
Several hours before the march, police began preventing buses carrying protesters in various points around the country from starting their journey, said Shaul Goldstein, a West Bank settler leader. March organizers urged participants to find other ways of reaching Netivot.
In the Gaza Strip, Egyptian mediators held a second day of meetings with leaders of Palestinian militant groups today to try to rescue a 5-month-old truce badly shaken by weekend violence, including a barrage of Palestinian mortar fire and Israeli air strikes.
The mediators were delivering a stern message to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other militant groups that the cease-fire agreed to in February does not give them the right to retaliate for perceived Israeli truce violations, participants said. Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders insisted they do have such a right, and it was not clear how the disagreement would be resolved.
Over the weekend, Israeli troops amassed outside Gaza and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he has given the army a free hand to stop mortar and rocket fire on Israeli towns. The troop buildup came after six Israelis were killed last week, five in an Islamic Jihad suicide bombing and a Hamas rocket attack.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas promised Sunday to do his best to stop the rocket fire. And Israeli Vice Premier Ehud Olmert took a conciliatory tone during an interview with The Associated Press, saying he hoped Abbas would stop the attacks.
“If he will stop it, we will not have to interfere,” he said.
Today’s demonstration in Israel will test the resolve and ability of the security forces to deal with large numbers of protesters – a situation troops will face again in mid-August when they are to begin removing about 9,000 residents from 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank.
For settler leaders, the march is a show of strength, but also a test of their promise to keep protests nonviolent. Some pullout opponents, including hard-line lawmaker Arieh Eldad from the opposition National Union Party, called on marchers to carry wire-cutters so they could break through Gaza’s perimeter fence.
In Jerusalem, nearly 100 Gaza pullout opponents waited for buses that never arrived. The buses were not allowed to leave their depots, marchers said.
“It’s very frustrating … you know we’re on vacation and we want to do whatever we can to help the country,” said New Yorker Sandy Brown, wearing an orange T-shirt to show her opposition to the withdrawal.
Settler leader Bentsi Lieberman condemned the police decision to outlaw the demonstration as a violation of democratic rights, and said demonstrators would try to reach the Gaza settlements despite the ban.
Another settler leader, Pinchas Wallerstein, said the protesters would not clash with security forces, but would refuse to leave the area.
Zelba said police banned the march because they want to stop the influx of withdrawal opponents to Gaza, and also due to fear Palestinians will fire mortars and rockets at the demonstrators.
The Israeli police minister, Gideon Ezra, said he fears the march will turn violence unless organizers urge their supporters to avoid clashes.
“I really hope that things will end in such a way that no one will regret they attended this march,” Ezra told Israel Radio.
Olmert said the settlers had crossed the boundaries of democratic protest. He said the plan to send thousands of protesters into Gaza is meant “to block the possibility of Israel to carry out its policies, and this is a direct intervention in a political process.” The army barred nonresidents from entering the Gaza Strip settlements last week, partly to prevent protesters from reaching the area.
Since the Gaza settlements were isolated, Jewish settlers and other Gaza pullout opponents have been clashing almost daily with security forces at the Kissufim crossing between Gaza and Israel.
Early today, settlers opposed to the withdrawal were dragged, pulled and carried away from the area by police and soldiers.
Israeli Cabinet ministers criticized the pullout opponents.
“The intention of the settlers is clear: They want to prevent the disengagement … by force,” Vice Premier Shimon Peres told Israel Radio.
