"I was one of about 200 students from the Maaleh Adumim Hesder Yeshiva who were going to the demonstration at Netivot on Monday," explained Yehoyada Kellerman of the city's Mitzpeh Nevo neighborhood. "The police would not let an empty bus into the city to pick us up, so we walked."
When they reached the interchange on the Jerusalem-Dead Sea highway in the sweltering heat, the group began the 10-kilometer (six-mile) trek to Jerusalem where they could catch a ride.
Maaleh Adumim police spotted them and told them that such a large group was a danger to traffic. Adding another chapter of surrealism to this past week's events, the police volunteered to escort the yeshiva students to Jerusalem. Motorists stopped to hand out ice cream and drinks to the police and students.
When they reached the Kfar Azzayim checkpoint, where jurisdiction to the capital begins, Jerusalem police prohibited them from continuing for the same reason they stopped more than 100 buses around the country from arriving at Kfar Maimon. The rally was termed illegal because organizers had said it would be followed by a march to Kisufim and then to Gush Katif, which is a closed military zone.
"The Maaleh Adumim police negotiated with the Jerusalem police and convinced them to let us through," Kellerman said. "In the end, the Jerusalem police also escorted us to the Bar Ilan junction where we boarded a Yesha Council bus to Netivot [near Kfar Maimon]." He said that after 6:30 PM the police no longer stopped buses, although the following morning they resumed the ban.
Thousands of others, including elderly people, were forced off of buses, and police took away licenses from bus drivers who refused orders.
Hannah Greenberg, a 74-year-old former New Yorker now living in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem, was one of several hundred people waiting for a chartered bus.
"We saw a lot of police and it was not clear to me why," she said. "A bus came along and everyone started shoving to get on... I was told by someone that a policeman told the driver, 'If you don't get away from here, I will take away your license.'
"I am very angry. What is this, a police state? A woman next to me said she had come with her car and I went with her. Then I saw thousands of people walking from Kiryat Moshe. They were not blocking the road, but suddenly two mounted police came."
Mrs. Greenberg said she did not see any violence, but Knesset Member Benny Elon said he saw mounted police charging after people.
"I think the left wingers who defend civil rights should be upset by this," Mrs. Greenberg declared. "The issue is beyond Gush Katif. The issue is living in a despotic country where the army enforces a political decision."
"It is very scary and infuriating," she said. "By what right does anyone have to tell me - I am not a criminal and I pay my taxes - that I cannot visit the grave of Babi Sali [in Netivot]?
When they reached the interchange on the Jerusalem-Dead Sea highway in the sweltering heat, the group began the 10-kilometer (six-mile) trek to Jerusalem where they could catch a ride.
Maaleh Adumim police spotted them and told them that such a large group was a danger to traffic. Adding another chapter of surrealism to this past week's events, the police volunteered to escort the yeshiva students to Jerusalem. Motorists stopped to hand out ice cream and drinks to the police and students.
When they reached the Kfar Azzayim checkpoint, where jurisdiction to the capital begins, Jerusalem police prohibited them from continuing for the same reason they stopped more than 100 buses around the country from arriving at Kfar Maimon. The rally was termed illegal because organizers had said it would be followed by a march to Kisufim and then to Gush Katif, which is a closed military zone.
"The Maaleh Adumim police negotiated with the Jerusalem police and convinced them to let us through," Kellerman said. "In the end, the Jerusalem police also escorted us to the Bar Ilan junction where we boarded a Yesha Council bus to Netivot [near Kfar Maimon]." He said that after 6:30 PM the police no longer stopped buses, although the following morning they resumed the ban.
Thousands of others, including elderly people, were forced off of buses, and police took away licenses from bus drivers who refused orders.
Hannah Greenberg, a 74-year-old former New Yorker now living in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem, was one of several hundred people waiting for a chartered bus.
"We saw a lot of police and it was not clear to me why," she said. "A bus came along and everyone started shoving to get on... I was told by someone that a policeman told the driver, 'If you don't get away from here, I will take away your license.'
"I am very angry. What is this, a police state? A woman next to me said she had come with her car and I went with her. Then I saw thousands of people walking from Kiryat Moshe. They were not blocking the road, but suddenly two mounted police came."
Mrs. Greenberg said she did not see any violence, but Knesset Member Benny Elon said he saw mounted police charging after people.
"I think the left wingers who defend civil rights should be upset by this," Mrs. Greenberg declared. "The issue is beyond Gush Katif. The issue is living in a despotic country where the army enforces a political decision."
"It is very scary and infuriating," she said. "By what right does anyone have to tell me - I am not a criminal and I pay my taxes - that I cannot visit the grave of Babi Sali [in Netivot]?