Settlers cancel Homesh march

Settler leaders cancelled on Monday night a march to the former West Bank settlement of Homesh scheduled for Tuesday.

The organizers vowed, however, that they would arrive at the area by the annual fast day of Tisha B'Av, which will take place in one week.

Right-wing organizers announced in recent weeks that they planned to march to the evacuated settlement on Tuesday and rebuild it. The organizations issued ads calling on right-wing activists and settlers to arrive at the place. According to estimates, thousands of people were expected to march to Homesh.

The organizers' surprising move, according to sources in the Right, was aimed at exhausting the government, which "sees us as an enemy and takes soldiers out of training in accordance with an insane list of priorities.

"The government should send the soldiers to real missions in Israel's defense and not to pursue settlers. They are chasing settlers instead of chasing (al-Aqsa Brigades leader Zakaria) Zubeidi and his wanted friends."

On Sunday, IDF forces began setting up roadblocks throughout the West Bank as part of an effort to prevent thousands of right-wing activists from journeying to the evacuated settlement of Homesh on Tuesday. A military official said the army would employ a "zero tolerance" policy against violence.

Officials within the security establishment said that if the activists do indeed attempt to journey to Homesh, the IDF and police would file lawsuits against the organizers demanding millions in monetary reimbursement for the funds spent securing the event.

Over the past two weeks, security officials have held a series of meetings regarding the upcoming march to one of the largest settlements evacuated in 2005, no authorization has been given to the event.

Security officials also threatened to bring criminal charges against anyone marching to Homesh as they would be in violation of the laws implemented during the disengagement. Several key activists were detained for questioning this past week, but all were released to their homes.

Staying alert

Six teams distributed large ads across the West Bank, Jerusalem and other areas on Monday night. According to the ads, "We will use ruse to wage a war. The Homesh camp announces that today's march is canceled. With the help of God, we will be in Homesh by Tisha B'Av.

"According to information we hold, the frightened government is preparing with large forces to prevent us from marching to Homesh," the ad said.

"Thousands of soldiers and police officers were dispatched for the 'national mission.' We are not playing their game. We will wait with the initiative. They have power, and we have time. What shall we do? We will prepare, equip ourselves with a bag and a sleeping bag and stay alert."

Thousands of text messages were sent Tuesday morning to all right-wing activists and settlers on the different organizations' pool of names, in which they are asked not to arrive at Homesh but to remain alert.