Israeli troops block Gaza pullout protestors

Israeli police today surrounded an encampment of opponents to the Gaza withdrawal, pushing back a surging crowd marching against the plans to demolish Jewish settlements.

It was the biggest showdown between protesters and the security forces since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced last year that he would dismantle all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank.

Protesters and police traded punches, and three injured policemen were carried away. Police on horseback then moved into the crowd of around 1,000 people and several demonstrators were arrested.

Settler leaders said they would try repeatedly to reach Gaza, about 10 miles away, but it appeared unlikely they would be able to break through police cordons and roadblocks set up along the way.

With demonstrators kept out of Gaza, this week’s protests in southern Israel were shaping up as the last major stand of withdrawal opponents.

The government signalled it would stand tough.

Israeli defence minister Shaul Mofaz said the marchers would not be allowed to move any closer to Gaza, setting the stage for daily confrontations.

Israeli vice premier Ehud Olmert, meanwhile, said: “Ariel Sharon is not scared of 20,000 or 50,000 marching settlers.”

The march began yesterday in the southern Israeli town of Netivot, with marchers spending the night at a makeshift camp in the farming village of Kfar Maimon, about 10 miles east of the Gaza border.

Demonstrator Avraham Ravi, 33, brought along his four children, ages one to eight. This morning, Ravi, his wife and children sat under a tree in Kfar Maimon, getting ready for the second day of the march.

“We walked all night. It wasn’t easy with the kids,” said Ravi, from the West Bank settlement of Tel Menashe. “But we tell them that this is to block those people who want to divide Israel.”

Police estimated that about 7,000 marchers had assembled in Kfar Maimon, while organisers put the number at more than 20,000.

Settler leader Pinchas Wallerstein said the protest could last many days. “As long as this terrible decision stands (to withdraw from Gaza), there will be a constant presence to prevent this,” he told Israel Army Radio. He said the protesters would try to keep moving toward Gaza.

“Wherever they stop us, we will stay,” he said.

The marchers want to reach the Jewish settlements in Gaza and to participate in resisting the withdrawal, set to begin in mid-August. Police last week declared the Jewish settlements a closed military area, meaning only residents can come and go. Police also beefed up barricades at the Kissufim crossing, the gateway from Israel to the Gaza settlements, adding rolls of barbed wire and concrete blocks.

In the West Bank today, two Palestinian militants were killed in a gun battle with Israeli troops.

Security forces surrounded the militants’ hideout in the village of Yamoun, and after the gunfight demolished the building with bulldozers. The army said the gunmen were members of two militant groups, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, which have ties to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement.

Israel has intensified arrest raids of militants after six Israelis were killed last week, five in a suicide bombing by Islamic Jihad and one in a rocket attack by Hamas. Militants also fired a barrage of rockets and mortar rounds at Israeli communities in and near Gaza. Israel carried out several air strikes last week, killing six Hamas militants.

Also today, Hamas gunmen and Palestinian security forces exchanged fire after two Hamas-affiliated research companies were burned down, witnesses said. Six people were wounded in the shootout.

During the fighting, Hamas activists burned two cars belonging to members of Abbas’ ruling Fatah movement, and fired a rocket-propelled grenade at another vehicle. Fatah activists burned a car belonging to Hamas.

Al Aqsa members later threatened to respond in kind if attacked by Hamas, signalling a significant rise in tensions.

Tensions between the sides have been rising as Abbas comes under increasing US and Israeli pressure to rein in and disarm militant groups.