withdrawal from the Gaza Strip this month as thousands gathered Tuesday, August 2, to prepare for massive demonstrations against the plan.
"Prepare yourselves for evacuation and the day after," he said in a message obtained by BosNewsLife News Center, adding that time was running out for the settlers. "Do not be led to believe that the disengagement will not be implemented. The disengagement will be implemented," he said.
"Apply now to the Disengagement Authority" [for financial support]. "Every day that you do not do so is a day wasted," Sharon stressed.
THOUSANDS EVACUATED
Under Prime Minister Sharon’s disengagement plan, 21 Gaza settlements will be dismantled, and more than 8,000 Jews removed from their homes. Israeli officials have reportedly said they expect about half of the settlers slated for evacuation will refuse to leave.
But Sharon told the Jewish settlers "it would be a serious mistake to agree to this provocation." He said his government had "heard about tent cities" of settlers protesting against the withdrawal. The idea of a tent city at a time when there are places for everyone is a political provocation. There are places for everyone…" he claimed.
He said several residents already moved into several places and rental apartments until the completion of home construction. Sharon said that the government had decided that those "who will build will receive rental payments for two years" while people who do not construct a home "receive rental payments for one year."
CHRISTIANS CONCERNED
However one settler, Rachel Sapperstein, told the Voice Of America (VOA) network that it is a duty to resist what she called "ethnic cleansing." "And it is a shameful thing on the part of the government of Israel to be doing this to the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. It is a terrible, terrible shame," she said.
Even some Christian allies of Israel have questioned Sharon’s policies. One of the most vocal influential evangelical Christians, American television preacher Pat Robertson, said last year in Jerusalem that "only God should decide if Israel should relinquish control of the lands it captured in the 1967 war, including the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem."
In an apparent reference to Sharon’s plan to pull out of Gaza, he warned that "God says, ‘I’m going to judge those who carve up the West Bank and Gaza Strip.’" "It’s my land and keep your hands off it.’"
WITHDRAWAL SUPPORT
The United States, Russia, European Union and United Nations have support the pull out but have urged Israel and the Palestinians to avoid chaos in the aftermath.
Israeli security forces were on high alert Tuesday, July 2 to avoid violence Wednesday, August 3, when thousands of protesters want to begin the first leg of a two-day march against the withdrawal.
The Israeli Government at first banned the rally in the border town of Sderot citing a risk of Palestinian rocket fire. However after late-night negotiations with the settler council, Israeli police gave the rally permission on the understanding protesters would continue from Sderot to Ofakim, a town 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) from Gaza, and then disperse, news reports said.
PROTESTORS MARCH
The Yesha Council of Settlements has vowed to stick to an earlier plan and continue the march from Ofakim to the main Gush Katif settlement bloc. But the authorities have vowed to keep marchers out of Gaza.
Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra said no more than 5,000 demonstrators would be allowed into Sderot. "If the number that turns up is far bigger than that set, they will be sent to Ofakim," he reportedly told Israel’s Army Radio.
The pull out from the Gaza Strip is seen as a key test for both Prime Minister Sharon’s future and that of the international backed peace plan for the troubled region. (With BosNewsLife Research, BosNewsLife News Center and reports from Israel).
