Police hoping for no resistance
צילום: רויטרס
Pullout plans in disarray
Despite approaching evacuation date, withdrawal preparations far from complete; evacuees’ housing arrangements unknown, police “hoping for best,” ambulance service counting on few casualties
TEL AVIV - Ready for disengagement? About 25,000 uniformed personnel are expected to take part in facilitating the Gaza pullout, but a closer examination reveals disorder reigns and raises question marks over the planned evacuation process.
Official plans call for the withdrawal to take three to four weeks, with the IDF charged with overseeing the pullout and the police tasked with the actual evacuation of settlements and removal of settlers from the area.
אילוסטרציה חיילים בזזו התנחלות ביזה (צילום: דני סלומון)
However, on the ground things appear to be shaky, to say the least.
“Where will you take evacuees who have no house waiting for them?” we asked a senior IDF Southern Command official this week.
“There are several hotels in Ashkelon and Beer Sheva,” he replied.
“Which ones?” We asked
“I don’t really know yet.”
“How many people will you house there and for how long?” we continued
“I don’t really know yet,” he said. “We haven’t finalized everything yet. It will happen in motion.”
But hotels in Beer Sheva and Ashkelon do not have enough hotel rooms to accommodate possibly thousands of residents, what will you do then? We asked.
“We’ll see,” came the reply
Police hoping for the best
Those who thought the police at least are ready to face the monumental task of settlement evacuation will be sorely disappointed as well.
A police officer involved in planning the evacuation process spoke to reporters, but did not sound overly certain.
How will you remove settlers who resist? We asked.
“Using our hands, without weapons,” he said. “This is something we haven’t done yet and I hope all goes well.”
“And if you face resistance?”
“I hope there won’t be any,” he replied, “but we have 8,000 police officers and twice as many soldiers. I hope and pray for the sake of the people of Israel that all goes well.”
And what if tens of thousands of settlers join the evacuees and block the pullout with their bodies? We wondered.
“What do you mean? I’m sure…their passage into the evacuated area would be blocked,” he said, but did not sound too certain.
How many buses do you have to transport evacuees who refuse to leave? We asked.
“We have 200 buses of various types.”
“And will that be enough?”
“I hope.”
The Magen David Adom ambulance service, meanwhile, was not even involved in pullout preparations until two weeks ago.
MDA’s southern district director Yehuda Shoshan said he is more relaxed following recent discussions, but admits that the ambulance service is counting on a low number of casualties.
“There will be 20 ambulances that would join forces under IDF command,” he said. “We are counting on few injuries, mostly light ones, maybe dozens,” he said.
