_a.jpg "צילום: עמיחי גרוס")
Second time around: protest in Gush Katif
צילום: עמיחי גרוס
17,000 at West Bank demonstration
Knesset Member Eldad repeats call for civil disobedience; local residents pledge chaos if government tries to carry out disengagement, say Sharon is creating holocaust
Some 17,000 people joined an anti-disengagement protest Thursday at the West Bank settlement of Homesh.
The demonstration followed a similar effort Wednesday in Gush Katif attended by 50,000 people, in which Knesset member Aryeh Eldad called for mass civil disobedience against the program.
Most people attending the Homesh demonstration were families with children. Performers included Ariel Silver, who moved recently to the Gaza settlement of Alei Sinai to show solidarity with the residents.
Eldad was clearly the crowd favorite, though, telling the crowd Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wants to “strong-arm the public into thinking the disengagement program is a done deal,” but said that if the program is carried out, “tens of thousands of Jews… will sit down in the streets and bring the country to a halt.”
Eldad also repeated his call for civil disobedience, saying “if anyone raises a hand against the Land of Israel, you should be strong for the Land of Israel. The Land of Israel is for the Jewish people, he said.
Bentzi Lieberman, head of the Yesha Council, said the northern West Bank settlements are the “backbone of the State of Israel,” and said his organization was stronger than Prime Minister Sharon. “We will not allow these places to be judenrein,” he said.
Local residents speak
The demonstration also featured speeched by residents of the West Bank settlements slated for evacuation. Homesh resident Etti Rozenblatt called on Prime Minister to cancel the “evil” disengagement plan and said Homesh will always be her home.
Yossi Dagan, a resident of Sa-Nur, called on protesters to bring their children to create chaos should the disengagement plan actually come to fruition.
“If, God forbid, they do try to implement the plan,” he called, “make sure you are here. Not for one day, but for six months.”
During the event, demonstrators also distributed flyers saying, “Sharon is bringing a holocaust upon us,” and charging the prime minister with responsiblity for thousands of deaths, wounded, and tens of thousands of destroyed families since the beginning of the Aqsa Intifada in September 2000.
