Jerusalem – Some opponents of the Gaza pullout admitted defeat Wednesday in what they hoped would be their most formidable protest yet – a desert march to reinforce Jewish settlers. The movement appeared increasingly chaotic as the date for Israel’s withdrawal nears.
Already penned in a farming community 12 miles from the crossing into the Gaza Strip, opponents suffered another blow when parliament overwhelmingly rejected a last-ditch proposal to delay by a year the scheduled mid-August withdrawal from Gaza and four West Bank settlements.
“It proved that the government, the Knesset and the public support the disengagement,” Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said.
The vote came as thousands of would-be marchers baked in the summer sun for the third day in Kfar Maimon, where some 20,000 police and soldiers are stationed to prevent them from marching to Gaza.
The orange protest ribbons still hang from cars, signposts and backpacks throughout the country, and scores of settler sympathizers managed to sneak into Gaza on Wednesday.
But the settlers, once a powerful political force, find themselves marginalized, said Nahum Barnea, a columnist for the Yediot Ahronot daily. “They are emotionally very, very frustrated. They don’t know what to do,” he told The Associated Press.
“It seems unlikely” that opponents can stop the pullout, said one despondent protester, Ari Shames, 36. But he added that he hopes for a last-minute miracle.
The protesters’ tactics vary. Some have sought to persuade police to disobey orders calling for them to remove settlers from their homes.
Others have pushed and shoved police in the belief the government will only respond to strong-arm tactics.
The contradictory and seemingly uncoordinated efforts are a far cry from the settlers’ previous attempts to defeat the pullout, which kicked into gear the minute Sharon announced his plan last year. Their campaign led to the plan’s surprise defeat in a party referendum. Sharon pushed on anyway.
