Protesters in desperate bid to block Gaza plan

Opponents of Israel's Gaza pullout were penned into a farming village today, surrounded by police and confused over their next move. Some of their leaders admitted defeat in what was to have been the most formidable protest yet - a march of thousands to Gaza to join the settlers there.

In Jerusalem, Israel's parliament delivered another blow to opponents today, overwhelmingly defeating a last-ditch legislative drive to postpone the pullout by a year.

With less than a month to go before the withdrawal gets under way, the once highly organised protest movement is becoming increasingly chaotic and desperate.

The settlers, once a powerful political force, find themselves marginalised, said Nahum Barnea, a columnist for the Yediot Ahronot daily. "They are emotionally very, very frustrated. They don't know what to do," he said.

Protesters have been trying everything to torpedo the pullout.

Some are smuggling reinforcements into the Gaza settlement and building tent camps to hold them. Others are trying to persuade police to disobey orders to remove settlers from their homes. Yet others push and shove those same police, believing the government will only respond to force.

When asked whether they can stop the pullout, one despondent protester, Ari Shames, 36, said "it seems unlikely," but that he still holds out hope for a last-minute miracle.

The contradictory and seemingly unco-ordinated tactics are a far cry from the settlers' previous efforts to defeat the pullout, which kicked into gear the minute Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced his plan last year.

Their campaign produced some astounding successes. They sent settlers and their children to make personal appeals to members of Sharon's Likud Party, leading to the plan's surprise defeat in a party referendum.

Sharon pushed on anyway. When opponents persuaded nearly one-third of Likud lawmakers to rebel against Sharon and try to bring down their own government, he formed a new coalition with the moderate Labour Party. Today, parliament voted 69-41 against delaying the pullout for a year.

The opponents blanketed the country with demonstrations, posters and orange ribbons of protest, pulling down public support for the pullout, though more than half the country still supports it, according to recent polls.

When the government sealed off the Gaza settlements last week to anyone who did not live there, the settlers called for a massive three-day march that was to have climaxed today with them running the blockade at the Kissufim border crossing and marching on the settlements.

The government parried, stopping their protesters' buses from heading to the demonstration, flooding the march route with 20,000 police and soldiers and then encircling the protesters in the farming community of Kfar Maimon.

With thousands of people baking in the blaring summer sun since Monday, some protest leaders urged backing down while others swore to push on to the Gush Katif block of settlements.

Yitzhak Levy, a lawmaker and settler leader, acknowledged that reaching Gaza was unrealistic. He suggested that marchers ask for permission to continue for another five miles before dispersing well before reaching Gaza. The protest's aim, Levy said, is to show opposition and not to clash with security forces.

But settler leader Pinhas Wallerstein said the protesters would not abandon their goal. "We are on our way to Gush Katif. It will take as long as it takes," he said.

Other settlers have begun smaller, ad hoc protests of their own.

They have smuggled hundreds of sympathisers into Gaza, despite the closure, to fortify the communities there against the pullout.

About 40 new families fill a camp in the beachside settlement of Shirat Hayam, sleeping in tents made of green tarpaulin wrapped around wooden or steel frames. Workers continue pouring concrete floors for more tents.

"Only a great mass of people can stop the disengagement," said Zeev Zefran, from the Israeli town of Petah Tikva, who sneaked into the settlement today.

In Gaza City, meanwhile, the ruling Fatah party and the opposition Hamas said their armed confrontation of several days is over, but Egyptian mediators said they would stay until after the Israeli pullout to make sure internal fighting does not flare up again.

The two rivals are vying for control of Gaza after Israel leaves. Early Wednesday, the two sides announced an agreement to take their gunmen off the streets and restore calm. A few hours later, gunmen opened fire on the homes of Palestinian police chief Rashid Abu Shbak, and Fatah leader Abdullah Franji. No one was hurt.

Even so, Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, said the agreement is in effect and called on Hamas members to show restraint. Sufian Abu Zaydeh, a Fatah leader and Cabinet minister, said the situation was under control.

Egypt has played a key role in mediating between rival factions. In an effort to ensure a smooth handover from Israel to the Palestinians, Egypt will send army officers and post one in each Palestinian security unit taking control of areas Israel evacuates, an Egyptian official said. The officers are to arrive later this week, he said.