A police statement released shortly after noon Monday explains the reason for the reversal of an earlier decision to permit the mass rally:
The police have apparently not found a legal basis on which to turn back the buses, and have therefore decided merely to delay them, in the hope that fewer people will arrive at the planned demonstration in the Negev town of Netivot. Indeed, in the late afternoon, police in Jerusalem began allowing buses to depart for the rally.
Police Superintendent Elisha Kogan told Arutz-7 that the police see it within their jurisdiction to prevent protesters from arriving at the legal rally due to the suspicion that they will later try to enter Gush Katif. "They intend to prevent the disengagement," Kogan said.
Police officers and border police have threatened bus drivers with the revocation of their licenses if they attempt to drive their passengers to the rally.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had announced Sunday that he expects security forces to prevent activists from reaching Gush Katif by using "the severest possible measures."
Regarding the blocking of tens of thousands of protestors from reaching the site of the demonstration, MK Dr. Uzi Landau (Likud Party) said on Monday:
In Haifa, all of the bus passengers boarded hired cabs and private vehicles in the direction of Netivot and the Kisufim Crossing. "Not one demonstrator turned around and went home," reported Haifa Land of Israel Headquarters activist Aviad Vissouly. Chabad activists in Tzfat and Bat Yam have set out in private vehicles toward Netivot.
A group of activists from the Victims of Arab Terror organization managed to circumvent police obstructions and arrive in Netivot by 4 PM.
MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) said, "If police stop the protestors from arriving, they will simply start walking by foot and block the traffic in that way. If the protestors can't travel, no one will be able to travel." Eldad is a strong proponent of civil disobedience against the expulsion/withdrawal plan.
The Yesha Council issued a statement condemning the move and encouraging protesters to make their way to the rally by other means. The statement read:
During a closed-door meeting of the Likud Party, angry yelling was heard directed toward Prime Minister Sharon, demanding answers as to why buses were being prevented from reaching the rally.
In the city of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv, policemen went around to the various locations from where buses were supposed to set out, and confiscated the bus drivers' licenses. Hundreds of Bat Yam residents who had planned to go to Netivot to demonstrate lawfully against the disengagement are now stranded, trying to plan their next move. One of them, Nissim, told Arutz-7, "We are hundreds of people here outside the synagogue, while the police have started a hunt for buses. We are hoping to go to Netivot by private cars, and if that doesn't work out, we plan to march by foot en masse to the Ayalon Highway."
In Jerusalem, Shifra Hoffman of the Victims of Arab Terror organization told Arutz-7 that security officials directed police officers to confiscate the drivers licenses of bus drivers, preventing her group from arriving at a special ceremony in Netivot for the terror victims. Hoffman said:
Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was asked by the BBC Monday afternoon whether the methods being used to prevent the protest did not call Israel's status as a democracy into question. "This is not a regular legitimate protest, the government has decided to withdraw from Gaza and this demonstration goes against the decision of the absolute majority and is illegitimate," Olmert said.
"According to information that has been presented to the Israel Police Commissioner and his senior staff, the organizers and participants of the march plan to violate the law. Therefore, it has been decided to prevent the participants from reaching the area and creating a situation that will disturb the police from carrying out the evacuation."Police teams set out for central locations around the country, especially in Judea and Samaria, and erected checkpoints to stop buses headed for the rally. Arutz-7's Kobi Sela reports that one of the policemen asked his commanding officer which clause he could cite to order the bus to turn around. The commander said that he should say it's an order of the IDF Commander.
The police have apparently not found a legal basis on which to turn back the buses, and have therefore decided merely to delay them, in the hope that fewer people will arrive at the planned demonstration in the Negev town of Netivot. Indeed, in the late afternoon, police in Jerusalem began allowing buses to depart for the rally.
Police Superintendent Elisha Kogan told Arutz-7 that the police see it within their jurisdiction to prevent protesters from arriving at the legal rally due to the suspicion that they will later try to enter Gush Katif. "They intend to prevent the disengagement," Kogan said.
Police officers and border police have threatened bus drivers with the revocation of their licenses if they attempt to drive their passengers to the rally.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had announced Sunday that he expects security forces to prevent activists from reaching Gush Katif by using "the severest possible measures."
Regarding the blocking of tens of thousands of protestors from reaching the site of the demonstration, MK Dr. Uzi Landau (Likud Party) said on Monday:
"I am becoming more and more convinced that Sharon is intentionally inflaming the situation; he is deliberately and purposefully inciting the citizens of Israel, the IDF, and the police against the residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, against the religious and against his political opponents. The Prime Minister maliciously wants to bring about a clash."Labor Party Leader MK Shimon Peres justified the police blockage of protestors from reaching the rally:
"They should stop telling stories about a protest. This is not a protest. This is a disturbance of the security forces, preventing them from carrying out their duties, including protecting the residents of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza themselves."Over one thousand buses are scheduled to take participants to the rally from around the country, and many have already set out on their way. Buses have been blocked in Modi'in, Petach Tikvah, Netanya, Bnei Brak, Givat Shmuel, Migdal HaEmek, Ma'alot, Haifa, Zichron Yaakov, Kiryat Shemonah, Upper Nazareth and Kfar Saba. In Jerusalem, passengers were ordered off tens of buses, some of which had already set out toward the march.
In Haifa, all of the bus passengers boarded hired cabs and private vehicles in the direction of Netivot and the Kisufim Crossing. "Not one demonstrator turned around and went home," reported Haifa Land of Israel Headquarters activist Aviad Vissouly. Chabad activists in Tzfat and Bat Yam have set out in private vehicles toward Netivot.
A group of activists from the Victims of Arab Terror organization managed to circumvent police obstructions and arrive in Netivot by 4 PM.
MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) said, "If police stop the protestors from arriving, they will simply start walking by foot and block the traffic in that way. If the protestors can't travel, no one will be able to travel." Eldad is a strong proponent of civil disobedience against the expulsion/withdrawal plan.
The Yesha Council issued a statement condemning the move and encouraging protesters to make their way to the rally by other means. The statement read:
"We are calling upon all opponents of the uprooting/expulsion plan, blocked by the police by direct order from the Sharon family, to come to Netivot using every possible mode of transport, whether by car, by foot or by train. The dictatorial manner in which the police are deployed to prevent the march will not succeed."The Women in Green organization said the police blockage of buses to the very protest rally that they earlier approved demonstrates that "Sharon has truly become a dictator, and that he has turned Israel into a police state." The organization is calling upon activists to use private vehicles to travel directly to Gush Katif.
During a closed-door meeting of the Likud Party, angry yelling was heard directed toward Prime Minister Sharon, demanding answers as to why buses were being prevented from reaching the rally.
In the city of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv, policemen went around to the various locations from where buses were supposed to set out, and confiscated the bus drivers' licenses. Hundreds of Bat Yam residents who had planned to go to Netivot to demonstrate lawfully against the disengagement are now stranded, trying to plan their next move. One of them, Nissim, told Arutz-7, "We are hundreds of people here outside the synagogue, while the police have started a hunt for buses. We are hoping to go to Netivot by private cars, and if that doesn't work out, we plan to march by foot en masse to the Ayalon Highway."
In Jerusalem, Shifra Hoffman of the Victims of Arab Terror organization told Arutz-7 that security officials directed police officers to confiscate the drivers licenses of bus drivers, preventing her group from arriving at a special ceremony in Netivot for the terror victims. Hoffman said:
"A police officer crouched down near the tire of our bus and told the driver that he had to take the bus in to be fixed. The driver said it was a blatant lie and that he had just had the bus overhauled. I snapped a picture of the man instructing the officers to make up these stories. People must realize we are truly living in police state."Another Bat Yam protester told Arutz-7 that the policeman who stopped his bus told him that he is fully aware that he was fulfilling an illegal order, but that the order does not qualify as “blatantly illegal,” as is the requirement for an order to be disobeyed.
Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was asked by the BBC Monday afternoon whether the methods being used to prevent the protest did not call Israel's status as a democracy into question. "This is not a regular legitimate protest, the government has decided to withdraw from Gaza and this demonstration goes against the decision of the absolute majority and is illegitimate," Olmert said.