Home>News Center>World
             
     

    Opponents of Gaza pullout admit defeat
    (Agencies)
    Updated: 2005-07-21 08:51

    Opponents of Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip abandoned their efforts to stage a thousands-strong protest march in support of Jewish settlers late Wednesday.

    As the demonstrators headed home, the anti-pullout movement appeared increasingly chaotic with the withdrawal less than a month away.

    About midnight, at the end of a third hot day of fruitless negotiations with police and the military, organizers told the marchers that buses were waiting to take them home, marking an end of the demonstration.

    The protesters were seeking to block the abandonment of 21 settlements in the Gaza strip and removal of 8,500 settlers. They had marched to Kfar Maimon, 12 miles from the Gaza Strip, before Israeli security forces blocked their way and kept them penned up and away from the Gaza frontier.

    Opponents of Gaza pullout admit defeat
    Supporters of the Jewish settler movement gather as they are prevented from leaving the area near the village of Kfar Maimon, in southern Israel near the Gaza Strip, Wednesday, July 20, 2005. Israeli police and army encircled an encampment of Gaza pullout opponents preventing them from marching to the nearby Gaza Strip. [AP]
    Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered the unilateral disengagement from Gaza because of the cost in blood and turmoil caused by Israel's maintenance of 8,500 Jewish settlers living among 1.4 million Palestinians.

    Sharon has faced an intense battle over the issue from hard-liners in his own Likud party and the settlers, whom he once supported. Israel won the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war.

    In 1982, when Israel dismantled settlements in the Sinai Desert as part of a peace deal with Egypt, hundreds of hard-core ideologues flocked to the area, but failed to block the withdrawal. The entire Jewish settlement town of Yamit was razed. At the time, Sharon was defense minister.

    Bentsi Lieberman, settlers' council head, told more than 10,000 followers — surrounded by twice that many security forces — that plans for a mass march were over.

    Buses began taking some demonstrators away, while others sat down under the stars.

    Earlier, the withdrawal opponents suffered another blow when parliament overwhelmingly rejected a last-ditch proposal to delay by a year the scheduled mid-August withdrawal from Gaza and four West Bank settlements.

    Opponents of Gaza pullout admit defeat
    Opponents to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan (L) dance in front of Israeli soldiers (R) as they secure the fence of Kfar Maimon July 20, 2005.[Reuters]
    "It proved that the government, the Knesset and the public support the disengagement," Sharon said.

    The settlers, once a powerful political force, find themselves marginalized, said Nahum Barnea, a columnist for the Yediot Ahronot daily. "They are emotionally very, very frustrated. They don't know what to do," he told The Associated Press.

    "It seems unlikely" that opponents can stop the pullout, said one despondent protester, Ari Shames, 36.

    The protesters' tactics have varied. Some have sought to persuade police to disobey orders calling for them to remove settlers from their homes. Others have pushed and shoved police in the belief the government will only respond to strong-arm tactics.

    The contradictory and seemingly uncoordinated efforts are a far cry from the settlers' previous attempts to defeat the pullout, which kicked into gear the minute Sharon announced his plan last year.

    Their campaign produced some astounding successes. They sent settlers and their children to make personal appeals to members of Sharon's Likud Party, leading to the plan's surprise defeat in a party referendum.

    Sharon pushed on anyway. When opponents persuaded nearly one-third of Likud lawmakers to rebel against Sharon and try to bring down their own government, he formed a new coalition with the moderate Labor Party. On Wednesday, parliament voted 69-41 against delaying the pullout for a year.

    The opponents had blanketed the country with demonstrations, posters and orange ribbons of protest, and the protests are credited with helping reduce public backing for the pullout — though more than half the country still supports it, according to recent polls.

    In Gaza City, meanwhile, the ruling Fatah party and the opposition Hamas said their armed confrontation of several days is over, but Egyptian mediators said they would stay until after the Israeli pullout to make sure internal fighting does not flare up. The two rivals are vying for control of Gaza after Israel leaves.



    USS Park Royal crew await for Rice
    Coffin of Milosevic flew to Belgrade
    Kidnapping spree in Gaza Strip
     
      Today's Top News     Top World News
     

    Australia, US, Japan praise China for Asia engagement

     

       
     

    Banker: China doing its best on flexible yuan

     

       
     

    Hopes high for oil pipeline deal

     

       
     

    Possibilities of bird flu outbreaks reduced

     

       
     

    Milosevic buried after emotional farewell

     

       
     

    China considers trade contracts in India

     

       
      Journalist's alleged killers held in Iraq
       
      No poisons found in Milosevic's body
       
      US, Britain, France upbeat on Iran agreement
       
      Fatah officials call for Abbas to resign
       
      Sectarian violence increases in Iraq
       
      US support for troops in Iraq hits new low
       
     
      Go to Another Section  
     
     
      Story Tools  
       
      Related Stories  
       
    Abbas wins fresh truce commitment in Gaza talks
       
    Palestinian authority executes 4 men
       
    Gaza settlers scuffle with troops over demolition
       
    Israel seals off Gaza Strip settlements
       
    Abbas trying to contain Islamic militants
    Manufacturers, Exporters, Wholesalers - Global trade starts here.
    Advertisement
             
    久久精品无码一区二区日韩AV | 无码中文av有码中文a| 影音先锋中文无码一区| 中文字幕丰满乱子无码视频| 无码精品人妻一区二区三区中| 中文字幕在线看视频一区二区三区 | 国产成人午夜无码电影在线观看| 五月丁香啪啪中文字幕| 亚洲中文字幕在线观看| 国产精品无码国模私拍视频| 无码h黄动漫在线播放网站| 中文字幕永久一区二区三区在线观看| 无码人妻丰满熟妇区五十路| 国产亚洲精久久久久久无码| 无码精品人妻一区二区三区人妻斩| 亚洲国产中文字幕在线观看| 波多野结衣中文字幕在线 | 中文字幕乱码人妻无码久久 | 午夜亚洲av永久无码精品| 日韩av无码一区二区三区| 亚洲日韩国产二区无码| 日韩av无码免费播放| 无码夫の前で人妻を犯す中字| 最近新中文字幕大全高清| 日韩在线中文字幕| 熟妇人妻久久中文字幕| 波多野结衣中文在线播放| 欧美中文在线视频| 中文字幕精品一区影音先锋 | 中文字幕51日韩视频| 久久中文字幕无码专区| 久久久这里有精品中文字幕| 最近免费2019中文字幕大全| 在线天堂中文在线资源网| 91中文字幕在线| 最近中文字幕在线| 中文字幕无码不卡免费视频| 久久午夜无码鲁丝片秋霞| 国产成人无码区免费内射一片色欲| 精品亚洲AV无码一区二区| 亚洲人成无码网站|