While well over 1,000 people waited tensely at the Gilad Farm near Kedumim for army forces to begin dismantling the site this morning, Moshe Zar - legal owner of the land on which the farm is built - suddenly made a surprising announcement: "We will leave peacefully." People had been continuing to arrive all morning on foot, as the army had closed the roads to motorized traffic, and some of them were disappointed that they would not be given the chance to take part in preventing or at least passively objecting to the uprooting. In fact, Kedumim Mayor Daniella Weiss, one of the most veteran pioneers of the Yesha settlement enterprise, grabbed a microphone and called on the public not to abandon the site. "This is not a fight over a private piece of land," she said, "but rather over the status of the Nation of Israel in the Land of Israel."
Moshe Zar, who also owns other parcels of land in the area, said, "Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer's motives [in wanting to dismantle the outposts] are entirely political... He wants to have scenes of settlers being dragged away, and we won't give these to him…" He said that the army would continue to man the site, that the current residents - his son, daughter-in-law, and several others - would be permitted to work the land during the day, and that nothing could be gained by a skirmish with soldiers.
Yesha Council Secretary Adi Mintz later told Arutz-7 that the Council was likely to adopt Zar's position: "The Zars own the land and have sat long and hard on this issue. Our over-all goal is to build the land and have it settled by Jews... We believe that in the end, we will return..."
Minister Ben-Eliezer had, until this morning, shown no indication of softening his position against the outpost, despite pleas by other government ministers and public figures. Neither did he respond to claims, echoed in an Israel Radio poll by over 70% of the public, that his main motive for taking down the Yesha outposts was to bolster his political standing within the Labor Party.
Among those at Gilad Farm this morning were National Infrastructures Minister Effie Eitam (NRP), Yesha Council leaders, and members of the Zar family - after whose son, security officer Gilad Zar, the farm was named and established after he was slain by terrorists. Moshe Zar, Gilad's father and a legendary figure in the history of the Yesha settlement enterprise, first made an emphatic call on soldiers not to refuse orders - "to refuse orders would be to come out against the entire framework of this great army that we have" - and then asked that the visitors not raise their hands against soldiers. Yesha leaders condemned the manifestations of violence against media representatives.
The army originally announced that it would begin the uprooting at 10 AM, but did not do so, and Zar made his anti-climactic announcement shortly before noon. Following an hour or so of indecision and milling around, the hundreds of people who had come to resist the dismantling began to file down the hill and into waiting Shomron Regional Council buses.
The compromise by which the site would become an army outpost has opponents on both sides. Mayor Weiss and others still refused to leave the site as of late this afternoon, while Ben-Eliezer's office denies that any deal has been made. Peace Now does not believe this latter claim, and wrote to the Defense Minister today that "the evacuation of the Gilad outpost is merely a trick, for actually the site will continue to exist and its residents will return to live there in a short time."
Moshe Zar, who also owns other parcels of land in the area, said, "Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer's motives [in wanting to dismantle the outposts] are entirely political... He wants to have scenes of settlers being dragged away, and we won't give these to him…" He said that the army would continue to man the site, that the current residents - his son, daughter-in-law, and several others - would be permitted to work the land during the day, and that nothing could be gained by a skirmish with soldiers.
Yesha Council Secretary Adi Mintz later told Arutz-7 that the Council was likely to adopt Zar's position: "The Zars own the land and have sat long and hard on this issue. Our over-all goal is to build the land and have it settled by Jews... We believe that in the end, we will return..."
Minister Ben-Eliezer had, until this morning, shown no indication of softening his position against the outpost, despite pleas by other government ministers and public figures. Neither did he respond to claims, echoed in an Israel Radio poll by over 70% of the public, that his main motive for taking down the Yesha outposts was to bolster his political standing within the Labor Party.
Among those at Gilad Farm this morning were National Infrastructures Minister Effie Eitam (NRP), Yesha Council leaders, and members of the Zar family - after whose son, security officer Gilad Zar, the farm was named and established after he was slain by terrorists. Moshe Zar, Gilad's father and a legendary figure in the history of the Yesha settlement enterprise, first made an emphatic call on soldiers not to refuse orders - "to refuse orders would be to come out against the entire framework of this great army that we have" - and then asked that the visitors not raise their hands against soldiers. Yesha leaders condemned the manifestations of violence against media representatives.
The army originally announced that it would begin the uprooting at 10 AM, but did not do so, and Zar made his anti-climactic announcement shortly before noon. Following an hour or so of indecision and milling around, the hundreds of people who had come to resist the dismantling began to file down the hill and into waiting Shomron Regional Council buses.
The compromise by which the site would become an army outpost has opponents on both sides. Mayor Weiss and others still refused to leave the site as of late this afternoon, while Ben-Eliezer's office denies that any deal has been made. Peace Now does not believe this latter claim, and wrote to the Defense Minister today that "the evacuation of the Gilad outpost is merely a trick, for actually the site will continue to exist and its residents will return to live there in a short time."