Opponents of the unrequited withdrawal are intensifying their work in the two remaining days before the referendum - one of them being the Sabbath - especially in light of Prime Minister Sharon's intentions to continue giving media interviews throughout the weekend. Well over 1,000 volunteers are going door-to-door this morning and afternoon, and will continue to do so tomorrow night, while others are calling Likud members by phone. The mission: to clarify the ramifications of a unilateral expulsion and retreat in the face of terrorism, without an agreement and without concrete international guarantees that Israel's interests will be safeguarded.
Despite complaints by pro-expulsion forces yesterday that they have no money or resources to wage their campaign, newspaper ads in favor of the disengagement plan abounded yesterday and today. A list of senior reserves officers signed a petition in favor of the plan, and a group of businessmen have sponsored an ad blaming the right wing for "serial toppling of right-wing governments."
On the other hand, Oded Tira - head of the Manufacturers Association, and the man who, as an IDF Brigadier-General, headed the mission of evacuating the residents of Sinai in 1982 - takes a more philosophical view. Speaking with B'Sheva's Ofrah Lax this week, Tira said that the 1982 expulsion, which was followed by no corresponding effort to populate the Negev, led to "a feeling, ideologically, that [we're] going backwards... I think that in the past years the People of Israel have neglected many values and did not replace them with others, including religion and tradition... There are vacuums that are filled by an imitation of Western culture..."
To those who support the expulsion plan, Tira said, "You can't just go and tell them to leave and take monetary compensation. It's not simple... In addition, even according to those who support the evacuation, it must not be allowed to go smoothly - because then every ideal can be bought for money. And if money becomes the main component, then we might as well forget everything - we apparently won't remain here."
Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, who has spoken out against the evacuation plan, is being asked by the pro-evacuation forces not to express his opinion tomorrow night, only hours before the referendum. Rabbi Yosef served as the Rishon LeTzion - Israel's Chief Sephardic Rabbi - and is considered the leading spiritual authority for much of the Sephardic public. Latest reports are that he will in fact speak out against the plan in his weekly lecture tomorrow night, but only from a Halakhic [Jewish legal] standpoint and not a political one.
Many hareidi and Hassidic rabbis have also made their position against the evacuation known. These include leading Halakhic authority Rabbi Shalom Yosef Elyashiv; Kabbalists Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri and Rabbi David Batzri; former Chief Rabbis Mordechai Eliyahu and Avraham Shapira; rabbis of Chabad; the Sanzer Rebbe; and others. The religious leaders of Ethiopian Jewry in Israel - the Keisim - have also called upon their followers to vote against the evacuation plan.
Despite complaints by pro-expulsion forces yesterday that they have no money or resources to wage their campaign, newspaper ads in favor of the disengagement plan abounded yesterday and today. A list of senior reserves officers signed a petition in favor of the plan, and a group of businessmen have sponsored an ad blaming the right wing for "serial toppling of right-wing governments."
On the other hand, Oded Tira - head of the Manufacturers Association, and the man who, as an IDF Brigadier-General, headed the mission of evacuating the residents of Sinai in 1982 - takes a more philosophical view. Speaking with B'Sheva's Ofrah Lax this week, Tira said that the 1982 expulsion, which was followed by no corresponding effort to populate the Negev, led to "a feeling, ideologically, that [we're] going backwards... I think that in the past years the People of Israel have neglected many values and did not replace them with others, including religion and tradition... There are vacuums that are filled by an imitation of Western culture..."
To those who support the expulsion plan, Tira said, "You can't just go and tell them to leave and take monetary compensation. It's not simple... In addition, even according to those who support the evacuation, it must not be allowed to go smoothly - because then every ideal can be bought for money. And if money becomes the main component, then we might as well forget everything - we apparently won't remain here."
Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, who has spoken out against the evacuation plan, is being asked by the pro-evacuation forces not to express his opinion tomorrow night, only hours before the referendum. Rabbi Yosef served as the Rishon LeTzion - Israel's Chief Sephardic Rabbi - and is considered the leading spiritual authority for much of the Sephardic public. Latest reports are that he will in fact speak out against the plan in his weekly lecture tomorrow night, but only from a Halakhic [Jewish legal] standpoint and not a political one.
Many hareidi and Hassidic rabbis have also made their position against the evacuation known. These include leading Halakhic authority Rabbi Shalom Yosef Elyashiv; Kabbalists Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri and Rabbi David Batzri; former Chief Rabbis Mordechai Eliyahu and Avraham Shapira; rabbis of Chabad; the Sanzer Rebbe; and others. The religious leaders of Ethiopian Jewry in Israel - the Keisim - have also called upon their followers to vote against the evacuation plan.