Activists found their way into Gush Katif by cutting through fences of Kibbutzim (collective communities) in the region, hiding aboard trucks approved to enter Gush Katif, and through various back roads leading to the Kisufim Crossing, where they were met by a crowd of Gush Katif residents.
Daniella Weiss, a longtime Land of Israel activist and the Mayor of Kedumim, together with 29 other women, were arrested at a checkpoint near the Kisufim Crossing, while walking though fields near Kibbutz Nir Am in the western Negev. They were released shortly thereafter with conditions restricting their movement. “People must head for Gush Katif,” Weiss told Arutz-7, “because there will always be a new excuse preventing the mass march from heading there.”
State-run Voice of Israel radio examined Wednesday morning how hundreds of activists managed to gain entry to Gush Katif despite the fact that 18,000 IDF soldiers and 12,000 police have been deployed in the region in an attempt to prevent exactly such infiltration of the blockaded Jewish coastal communities.
A police official speculated that people had snuck in, hidden in trucks, and that many had quickly joined the large crowds of Gush Katif residents at the Kisufim Crossing, intermingling and making it impossible for police to identify and apprehend them.
“The Jewish people, thank G-d, are extremely creative,” said Aryeh Yitzchaki of the Gaza Absorption Authority, which is working on housing solutions for the thousands of protestors arriving to thwart the Disengagement Plan. “Just as they always found their way into the Land of Israel, even when the British had placed a blockade, Jews will continue to find ways into Gush Katif.”
In a development that lends credence to the claims by many infiltrators that they received assistance from sympathetic police and soldiers at checkpoints, Elad Diament, a soldier in the Tzabar Battalion of the Givati Brigade, was sentenced this morning to 21 days military detention for refusing to report movements towards Gaza by anti-Disengagement activists Tuesday night. He was assigned to man an operations room and report movement towards Gaza by anti-Disengagement activists.
Another soldier, a member of the Nahal Brigade, announced his intention to abandon his duties limiting continued protest Wednesday morning, and joined the marchers, in the direction of Gush Katif.
While the Yesha Council march to Gush Katif is dependant on the police and security forces backing down, as Yesha leaders have vowed no force will be used, MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) has been vocally encouraging activists to head strait for Gush Katif. Eldad does not believe that regular or even huge rallies will prevent the implementation of the Disengagement Plan. He claims that continuous efforts to reach the closed military zone of Gush Katif are more likely to prevent it.
Speaking with Arutz-7 Radio, MK Eldad said: "The communities here are slated for uprooting and expulsion, I see no point in organizing rallies and protests after they have set up checkpoints and fences to prevent entry. It seems to me that we have tried very many rallies, and the time has come for action."
Women in Green's Nadia Matar, who is coordinating housing on the Shirat HaYam beach-front for those who make it into Gush Katif, says that an average of 150 activists make it into Gush Katif each night.
Noting that there are many back ways to enter Gaza and northern Samaria, Eldad added that "to call for large demonstrations now influences public opinion, but even if there were 200,000 people in Sderot, it would not prevent the uprooting of a single crippled child from Kfar Darom."
Daniella Weiss, a longtime Land of Israel activist and the Mayor of Kedumim, together with 29 other women, were arrested at a checkpoint near the Kisufim Crossing, while walking though fields near Kibbutz Nir Am in the western Negev. They were released shortly thereafter with conditions restricting their movement. “People must head for Gush Katif,” Weiss told Arutz-7, “because there will always be a new excuse preventing the mass march from heading there.”
State-run Voice of Israel radio examined Wednesday morning how hundreds of activists managed to gain entry to Gush Katif despite the fact that 18,000 IDF soldiers and 12,000 police have been deployed in the region in an attempt to prevent exactly such infiltration of the blockaded Jewish coastal communities.
A police official speculated that people had snuck in, hidden in trucks, and that many had quickly joined the large crowds of Gush Katif residents at the Kisufim Crossing, intermingling and making it impossible for police to identify and apprehend them.
“The Jewish people, thank G-d, are extremely creative,” said Aryeh Yitzchaki of the Gaza Absorption Authority, which is working on housing solutions for the thousands of protestors arriving to thwart the Disengagement Plan. “Just as they always found their way into the Land of Israel, even when the British had placed a blockade, Jews will continue to find ways into Gush Katif.”
In a development that lends credence to the claims by many infiltrators that they received assistance from sympathetic police and soldiers at checkpoints, Elad Diament, a soldier in the Tzabar Battalion of the Givati Brigade, was sentenced this morning to 21 days military detention for refusing to report movements towards Gaza by anti-Disengagement activists Tuesday night. He was assigned to man an operations room and report movement towards Gaza by anti-Disengagement activists.
Another soldier, a member of the Nahal Brigade, announced his intention to abandon his duties limiting continued protest Wednesday morning, and joined the marchers, in the direction of Gush Katif.
While the Yesha Council march to Gush Katif is dependant on the police and security forces backing down, as Yesha leaders have vowed no force will be used, MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) has been vocally encouraging activists to head strait for Gush Katif. Eldad does not believe that regular or even huge rallies will prevent the implementation of the Disengagement Plan. He claims that continuous efforts to reach the closed military zone of Gush Katif are more likely to prevent it.
Speaking with Arutz-7 Radio, MK Eldad said: "The communities here are slated for uprooting and expulsion, I see no point in organizing rallies and protests after they have set up checkpoints and fences to prevent entry. It seems to me that we have tried very many rallies, and the time has come for action."
Women in Green's Nadia Matar, who is coordinating housing on the Shirat HaYam beach-front for those who make it into Gush Katif, says that an average of 150 activists make it into Gush Katif each night.
Noting that there are many back ways to enter Gaza and northern Samaria, Eldad added that "to call for large demonstrations now influences public opinion, but even if there were 200,000 people in Sderot, it would not prevent the uprooting of a single crippled child from Kfar Darom."