Posted on 06/29/2005 2:50:36 PM PDT by Nachum
SHIRAT HAYAM, Gaza Strip - Jewish settlers holed up in an abandoned villa traded blows with Israeli troops Wednesday and then attacked Palestinians, critically wounding one before soldiers hauled them away.
The clashes were the worst involving opponents of the August withdrawal since Israel announced its plans to pull out of Gaza.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called the protesters "hooligans" and vowed to fight them with an "iron fist." His tough talk reflected concern that protests could pit Israeli against Israeli and lead to bloodshed during the pullout, which marks the first time Israel will remove veteran settlements from Gaza and the West Bank.
Opinion polls show support for the withdrawal stands at about 50 percent, while opposition is at 38 percent.
About 9,000 settlers are to be uprooted from all 21 Gaza settlements and four in the West Bank.
A planned nationwide highway protest in Israel fizzled Wednesday; police were out in force to keep roads open. Protesters briefly blocked the entrance to Jerusalem, a highway near Tel Aviv and a Haifa intersection, but the actions were only passing inconveniences for motorists.
They did, however, tie up thousands of police, who used a water cannon to disperse protesters at the entrance to Jerusalem.
Earlier, a separate group of demonstrators blocked the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway when they threw oil and nails on the road, bringing morning rush-hour traffic to a standstill.
In Gaza, several dozen young settlers, most teenagers, broke into an empty Palestinian villa in the al-Mawasi neighborhood next to the Shirat Hayam settlement Monday. They occupied the villa a day after the military tore down 11 derelict buildings nearby because they feared withdrawal opponents would use them as a base for violent resistance.
Trouble began Wednesday when the settlers and Palestinian residents began pelting each other with rocks. Violence escalated when soldiers moved in to stop the fight.
Extremist settlers slugged it out with the soldiers, including high-ranking officers, and struggled as soldiers dragged some through the sand to an army vehicle.
Soldiers fired rifles in the air to try to stop the confrontation, but were unable to curb the violence.
An Associated Press reporter saw a Palestinian, hit in the head by a rock, lying unconscious next to a building with blood pouring from his head. A young Israeli in a blue T-shirt and large skullcap identifying him as an Orthodox Jew raced around a corner and threw more rocks at the prone Palestinian.
A soldier chased after the Israeli and wrestled him to the ground. Hospital officials later said the Palestinian was in critical condition.
The Jews wrote "Muhammad is a pig" in Hebrew on the villa and the reference to the Islamic prophet infuriated the Palestinians. Israeli military officials warned word of the desecration was spreading through Gaza and might lead to more violence.
At nightfall, soldiers stormed the villa and removed the squatters, witnesses said. The military said all 30 Israelis in the villa were arrested.
After sunset, Palestinians fired several mortar shells at southern Gaza settlements. A Thai worker was slightly injured, the military said.
Nearby, well-known settlers from the West Bank have taken over a derelict settler hotel, turning it into a base for pullout opposition. Some Gaza settlers have expressed displeasure at their presence, but hundreds streamed to the site to reinforce them several days ago when a rumor circulated that police were about to raid the site.
The Gaza violence overshadowed the effort by protesters to organize blocking of highway intersections all over the country. The intersections had been listed openly by the "National Home" group that organized them, so police streamed to the named sites, preventing most protests.
In Tel Aviv, irate drivers scuffled with demonstrators. One swung a bicycle chain and another attacked the seated protesters with a large hammer.
At the entrance to Jerusalem, dozens of police, some on horses, were deployed. Youths at the side of the six-lane highway jumped into the road, and police shoved them back before turning a water cannon on them.
"This is a nonviolent means of protest," said Simcha Shiman, 18, from Jerusalem. "We've used all our legal means of protest, and this is our last legal course of action."
Israel TV said police detained 147 highway protesters.
At a meeting with senior Cabinet members, Sharon declared, "We cannot allow gangs to undermine the country," Sharon said, according to participants. "We have to act with an iron fist against hooligans."
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz charged that the road-blocking demonstrators were "endangering human lives" and said the authorities "would do all they can to put a stop to it."
Sad but true unfortunately.
Did Sharon forget who the enemy is? How long until the anti-semites jump into this fray?
A Stab In The Heart [Video]
IsraelNationalNews - A Video on Gush Katif [Video]
The Nature Of Bruce ~
Does this sound like a staged media event to you? Except that the guy they paid to play the Orthodox Israeli Jew was wearing the wrong color T-shirt.
The Jews wrote "Muhammad is a pig" in Hebrew on the villa
Oh, the horror, what a war crime!
WARNING: This is a high volume ping list
HOOLIGAN they call them hooligan SHUT UP Ariel
I caught that too.
The agent provocateur was too dumb to change out of his blue t-shirt for orange.
What is the significance of his shirt color?
Those wearing orange are against the pogrom ("pullout"). Those wearing blue are in favor of it.
Would that Sharon would strike the palesimians with "an iron fist"..
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