Organizers said that the tens of thousands of protestors who marched to Kfar Maimon this week should go home "and "gather strength over the weekend" for next week's march. Details have not yet been announced.
The rally at Kfar Maimon ended Thursday morning after more than 10,000 policemen, Border Police and soldiers placed a siege on the agricultural community of Kfar Maimon. Crowds at the rally had intended to march to Kissufim, near Gush Katif, where organizers said they intended to enter as a show of solidarity with the Jewish residents who face expulsion next month. The government has declared the area a closed military zone, barring entry to non-residents who have no special permit to enter.
Despite the show of force by police, who brought out mounted officers and water cannons, the atmosphere generally was calm, and at one point soldiers and protestors prayed together, separated only by the fence surrounding Kfar Maimon.
Police, who had not expected the steady flow of people to the rally, prevented tens of thousands of Israelis from arriving. They stopped more than 130 buses on Tuesday and dozens of more on Wednesday and boarded a public bus from Ma'aleh Adumim, east of Jerusalem, to order several passengers to disembark because of suspicions they were on their way to Kfar Maimon.
The anti-disengagement movement's "zero-hour" mass protest against next month's Gaza withdrawal fizzled out overnight Wednesday, with thousands of activists reluctantly heading home after being prevented from marching toward Gush Katif.
By late Thursday morning, only a few hundred marchers remained in Kfar Maimon. Police had opened the main gate and lifted all travel restrictions from the area. They also began to remove their equipment and forces from the area.
Towards the end of the rally, hundreds of people managed to march towards Kisufim. Police said Thursday morning they had arrested 265 marchers who had attempted to infiltrate Gush Katif through the Kissufim crossing. As of Thursday afternoon, 70 of those arrested had been released, while the rest were refusing to give police their personal information.
Protest leaders and police were in disagreement regarding the number of people who have managed to sneak into Gaza over the past couple of days. Bentzi Lieberman, head of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza (Yesha), maintained in an interview with Army Radio that hundreds had managed to enter Gaza. However, Police Insp.-Gen. Moshe Karadi told Army Radio that only dozens had managed to evade the police and army cordon.
A soldier stationed at the Kissufim crossing was lightly wounded and required treatment at a hospital after he was hit by a civilian car north of the crossing early Thursday morning. According to the army, the car strayed from a convoy attempting to reach Kissufim, hit the soldier and fled from the area.
The IDF Spokesman declared that the army viewed the incident gravely and condemned all actions by extremists that violated the law and endangered the lives of both civilians and members of the security forces.
Wednesday night's drama came hours after the Knesset rejected three bills aimed at delaying the withdrawal for up to a year. Fewer than a third of MKs present voted in favor of the bills proposed by the anti-disengagement bloc.
During the rally, protestors circled the closed town from within, many of them dancing and singing with a Torah scroll, but did nothing to clash with the security forces. Hundreds of people spent well over an hour speaking "heart-to-heart" with policemen and soldiers, explaining their opposition to the expulsion of Jews from their homes in the Land of Israel.
One little girl, aged approximately 11, was shown on national television giving an impassioned speech to policewomen, who did not remain unmoved: "Could you ever imagine evacuating your own mothers from their homes? Could you? And what kind of word is this, to evacuate? We remove garbage, or enemies - but not brothers!"
The chant "Soldier, Policeman, Refuse the Order," was replaced last night with, "Soldier, Policeman, We Love You, We Love the IDF." Some demonstrators walked around with megaphones, proclaiming, "We're not the enemy; we love you. Go fight the real enemy."
The singing and hear-to-heart talking contrasted starkly with the scenes of chain-link fences and even barbed wire separating between rows of security forces and idealistic citizens.
The crowds - families, old and young, religious and secular - sang HaTikvah and Ani Maamin (I Believe in the Coming of the Messiah), and then began to disperse. Many made their way by police-supplied bus, or other vehicles, or by foot, to Netivot, eight kilometers away, where they had left their cars on Monday night, when the protest started.
MK Effie Eitam spoke earlier in the evening to the security forces, and said, "We are standing here not as two enemy camps, but as two camps of brothers falling on each other's necks and crying aloud. We are crying at the foolish and evil thought [of disengagement] that has brought us to what appears to be two different sides. We are both on the same side of love for our people, country and the Torah. The eyes of the entire world are upon us, with every television network broadcasting these events live to millions of viewers around the world. Heaven forbid that they will see us, with our rabbis, students, wives and children, involved in violence towards the heroes of Israel - police and soldiers."
MK Benny Elon said that the mistaken impression had been planted in the public that this was a "rebellion," when in fact it was just a "legitimate demand to protest." "The order to take demonstrators off of buses, and the involvement of the Chief of Staff against civilian demonstrators in the heart of Israel, represent a military revolution by Prime Minister Sharon," Elon said.
Yesha Council chief Bentzi Lieberman said, "This is an ethical and public struggle for the heart of the nation, and it will continue until the expulsion plan is cancelled."
Rabbi Chaim Druckman, a former MK and the head of the Yeshivot Bnei Akiva movement, said, "Together with all the myriads who are here and who are striving and longing for Gush Katif and the Land of Israel, are additional myriads of souls of Israel, from all the generations, who longed to reach the Land of Israel."
Ami Shaked, the security officer of Gush Katif - a self-proclaimed non-religious Jew - told the giant crowds at Kfar Maimon last night, "We will continue to light up the orange color around the world, and this gives strength to the residents of Gush Katif in maintaining their daily lives. 'Not by military might or force, but by My spirit, G-d said' - keep smiling, keep lighting up, and that's how we will win."
The rally at Kfar Maimon ended Thursday morning after more than 10,000 policemen, Border Police and soldiers placed a siege on the agricultural community of Kfar Maimon. Crowds at the rally had intended to march to Kissufim, near Gush Katif, where organizers said they intended to enter as a show of solidarity with the Jewish residents who face expulsion next month. The government has declared the area a closed military zone, barring entry to non-residents who have no special permit to enter.
Despite the show of force by police, who brought out mounted officers and water cannons, the atmosphere generally was calm, and at one point soldiers and protestors prayed together, separated only by the fence surrounding Kfar Maimon.
'Open for Us the Gates of Righteousness'
Police, who had not expected the steady flow of people to the rally, prevented tens of thousands of Israelis from arriving. They stopped more than 130 buses on Tuesday and dozens of more on Wednesday and boarded a public bus from Ma'aleh Adumim, east of Jerusalem, to order several passengers to disembark because of suspicions they were on their way to Kfar Maimon.
The anti-disengagement movement's "zero-hour" mass protest against next month's Gaza withdrawal fizzled out overnight Wednesday, with thousands of activists reluctantly heading home after being prevented from marching toward Gush Katif.
By late Thursday morning, only a few hundred marchers remained in Kfar Maimon. Police had opened the main gate and lifted all travel restrictions from the area. They also began to remove their equipment and forces from the area.
Towards the end of the rally, hundreds of people managed to march towards Kisufim. Police said Thursday morning they had arrested 265 marchers who had attempted to infiltrate Gush Katif through the Kissufim crossing. As of Thursday afternoon, 70 of those arrested had been released, while the rest were refusing to give police their personal information.
Protest leaders and police were in disagreement regarding the number of people who have managed to sneak into Gaza over the past couple of days. Bentzi Lieberman, head of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza (Yesha), maintained in an interview with Army Radio that hundreds had managed to enter Gaza. However, Police Insp.-Gen. Moshe Karadi told Army Radio that only dozens had managed to evade the police and army cordon.
A soldier stationed at the Kissufim crossing was lightly wounded and required treatment at a hospital after he was hit by a civilian car north of the crossing early Thursday morning. According to the army, the car strayed from a convoy attempting to reach Kissufim, hit the soldier and fled from the area.
The IDF Spokesman declared that the army viewed the incident gravely and condemned all actions by extremists that violated the law and endangered the lives of both civilians and members of the security forces.
Wednesday night's drama came hours after the Knesset rejected three bills aimed at delaying the withdrawal for up to a year. Fewer than a third of MKs present voted in favor of the bills proposed by the anti-disengagement bloc.
During the rally, protestors circled the closed town from within, many of them dancing and singing with a Torah scroll, but did nothing to clash with the security forces. Hundreds of people spent well over an hour speaking "heart-to-heart" with policemen and soldiers, explaining their opposition to the expulsion of Jews from their homes in the Land of Israel.
One little girl, aged approximately 11, was shown on national television giving an impassioned speech to policewomen, who did not remain unmoved: "Could you ever imagine evacuating your own mothers from their homes? Could you? And what kind of word is this, to evacuate? We remove garbage, or enemies - but not brothers!"
The chant "Soldier, Policeman, Refuse the Order," was replaced last night with, "Soldier, Policeman, We Love You, We Love the IDF." Some demonstrators walked around with megaphones, proclaiming, "We're not the enemy; we love you. Go fight the real enemy."
The singing and hear-to-heart talking contrasted starkly with the scenes of chain-link fences and even barbed wire separating between rows of security forces and idealistic citizens.
The crowds - families, old and young, religious and secular - sang HaTikvah and Ani Maamin (I Believe in the Coming of the Messiah), and then began to disperse. Many made their way by police-supplied bus, or other vehicles, or by foot, to Netivot, eight kilometers away, where they had left their cars on Monday night, when the protest started.
MK Effie Eitam spoke earlier in the evening to the security forces, and said, "We are standing here not as two enemy camps, but as two camps of brothers falling on each other's necks and crying aloud. We are crying at the foolish and evil thought [of disengagement] that has brought us to what appears to be two different sides. We are both on the same side of love for our people, country and the Torah. The eyes of the entire world are upon us, with every television network broadcasting these events live to millions of viewers around the world. Heaven forbid that they will see us, with our rabbis, students, wives and children, involved in violence towards the heroes of Israel - police and soldiers."
MK Benny Elon said that the mistaken impression had been planted in the public that this was a "rebellion," when in fact it was just a "legitimate demand to protest." "The order to take demonstrators off of buses, and the involvement of the Chief of Staff against civilian demonstrators in the heart of Israel, represent a military revolution by Prime Minister Sharon," Elon said.
Yesha Council chief Bentzi Lieberman said, "This is an ethical and public struggle for the heart of the nation, and it will continue until the expulsion plan is cancelled."
Rabbi Chaim Druckman, a former MK and the head of the Yeshivot Bnei Akiva movement, said, "Together with all the myriads who are here and who are striving and longing for Gush Katif and the Land of Israel, are additional myriads of souls of Israel, from all the generations, who longed to reach the Land of Israel."
Ami Shaked, the security officer of Gush Katif - a self-proclaimed non-religious Jew - told the giant crowds at Kfar Maimon last night, "We will continue to light up the orange color around the world, and this gives strength to the residents of Gush Katif in maintaining their daily lives. 'Not by military might or force, but by My spirit, G-d said' - keep smiling, keep lighting up, and that's how we will win."