Israeli security struggle to halt Gaza protestors

Two hundred opponents of Israel’s planned Gaza Strip evacuation stole into the coastal strip overnight in defiance of a military ban, even as security forces blocked thousands of protesters from marching into Gaza to bolster settler resistance to the withdrawal.

Police went into the northern Gaza settlement of Nissanit and quickly detained 150 infiltrators for questioning, said police spokesman Avi Zelba. They were continuing to look for the remaining 50, Zelba said.

Jewish settler groups and their allies staunchly oppose Israel’s plan to uproot all 21 settlements in Gaza and four small enclaves in the West Bank. The evacuations are set to begin in two weeks.

Settler leaders are staging a mass three-day protest in southern Israel this week and hoped to march into Gaza’s main bloc of settlements late yesterday.

Settlers and their supporters, having failed to block the pullout through the courts and parliament, have resorted to infiltrations and rallies as their main means of protest. So far, the protests have proceeded without violence, but security forces are bracing for possible clashes before and during the withdrawal.

The military says about 2,000 pullout opponents have illegally entered the area, which was closed to non-residents three weeks ago.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, backed by parliament, says that after nearly four decades, continued Israeli control of Gaza was untenable. About 8,500 Jews live in the heavily guarded settlements amid 1.3 million Palestinians.

Sharon also believes the pullout will solidify Israel’s hold on its main West Bank blocs, where the vast majority of the 240,000 Israeli settlers live.

The 9,000 settlers to be evacuated from Gaza and the northern West Bank will be given until midnight on August 16 to leave their homes voluntarily. Those who do not are to be removed forcibly by police and soldiers.

The government has said settlers would lose a significant portion of the state compensation due to them if they don’t leave on time, but Israel Radio said Thursday that wouldn’t hold up in court. The Supreme Court has ruled that resisters could sue to receive all the state compensation allotted to them, the radio station said.

Sharon launched the pullout program as a unilateral effort during the rule of long-time Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, but after Arafat’s death, agreed to co-ordinate the withdrawal with his moderate successor, Mahmoud Abbas.

Yesterday, international mediator James Wolfensohn called on Israel and the Palestinians to finish their co-ordination talks on issues such as control of border crossings. Wolfensohn had a series of meetings yesterday with officials on both sides, but no agreements were reached.

The issues may appear technical, but they could shape Israeli-Palestinian relations for the next decade, Wolfensohn, a former World Bank president, said in an interview. “If we get it wrong here, it will be very difficult to get it right after this,” he said.

Both governments are committed to a peaceful withdrawal, but Palestinian militant groups had been bombarding Gaza settlements with rocket and mortar fire in recent weeks to try to create the impression they are driving the Israelis out by force.

In a sign the pullout might proceed calmly, however, Islamic Jihad militants yesterday said they would stop their rocket fire during the pullout.