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Demonstrators in Poleg (Channel 10)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners March 23, 2005 |
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| Channel 10 |
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Anti-expulsion resistance forces promised to paralyze the country, and succeeded to a signficant extent, shutting down the coastal road near Netanya Tuesday evening, despite a heavy police deployment all over Israel to try and thwart them. Other demonstration took place near Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Dozens of activists sat on the road, burned tires, chanted slogans. About 100 activists were arrested, although most were later released.
The road was reopened after police extinguished burning tires and detained 25 protesters. Police in Netanya also spotted the bus that allegedly brought the protesters to the junction and arrested the driver and two passengers.
Police, "fighting the last war," were spread out along the Ayalon Highway, which had been blocked last week. They confessed to have been taken by surprise once again when protests appeared on other main roads. Officials repeated the excuse they have been using since the anti-expulsion protests began: "We can't be everywhere at once."
This truism, of course, reflects the demonstrators' strategy.
The Yesha Settlement Council slammed what it called "ongoing Bolshevik acts against non-violent, legitimate protests." The activists arrested near the Glilot junction, just north of Tel Aviv, apparently intended to deliver sweets to thousands of homes in a traditional celebration of Purim, not to demonstrate, Council officials said. The Council's claim was supported by the fact that police released 55 out of 65 people at the intersection.
A short time earlier, the main Jerusalem-Dead Sea highway was blocked by burning tires. By the time police arrived to unclog the traffic jam, protesters had fled the scene, Israel National News reported.
Protesters also burned tires and blocked roads near the Ha'amakim junction in the north of the country.
Tel Aviv police declared the highest state of alert and dispatched a helicopter in search of protesters supposedly planning to disrupt traffic.
Police panicking, abuse alleged
Police detained and questioned a busload of residents of Judea, Samaria and the Jerusalem area who were allegedly delivering the traditional mishloach manot Purim food basket to residents of towns along Israel's coastal plain as well as fresh produce from Gush Katif in Gaza. The chartered bus they were riding in was halted by police at the Oranim Junction in Samaria and its passengers detained for over an hour, Israel National News/Arutz-7 reported.
Arutz-7's Itzik Wolf reported that the police threatened the bus's driver with revocation of his license if he did not turn around and return where he came from, in the settlement community of Eli.
The officers were apparently unconvinced by the large bundles of Gush Katif parsley and lettuce on the bus ready for delivery, or perhaps they believed that the passenger going to burn or at least smoke it. "We have orders to detain you," they told residents repeatedly.
As some of the detained residents left the bus to say the afternoon prayer, a large police presence confronted them and a police helicopter hovered overhead.
There were reports of severe police brutality and abuse. "They locked us in the bus for two hours without water or the ability to go to the bathroom," a passenger named David told Arutz-7. "Then, they lost their temper and threw a gas canister into the bus. Afterward, an officer boarded and started indiscriminately hitting people sitting inside the bus for absolutely no reason, including girls. The police simply went berserk."
According to David, as reported by Arutz-7, the police using excessive violence had removed their name tags to prevent them from being identified later. Police told Maariv newspaper they would investigate the use of pepper spray, but said that if it had in fact been used it was the decision of a lone officer who sprayed a small bottle of it from outside the bus. The police also claimed that any violence was used due to the youth's refusal to cooperate.
Two Yesha residents driving a commercial vehicle in Netanya were detained as well, on suspicion of involvement in the road-blocking. One activist called the police intervention "a new record in Sharon's tyranny. Now, all you have to do is appear outwardly religious or have a Yesha address to be rounded up by the Prime Minister's police."
In Bat Yam, a group of anti-expulsion protesters gathered at the town's main intersections and were met by a very large police presence, which deterred them from blocking the flow of traffic.
Gush Katif spokesman Eran Sternberg slam police actions as excessive and counterproductive. "The police played directly into the hands of the road-blockers by backing up their claim that it is the only protest action left. We will pursue disciplinary measures against those responsible [for detaining of the Purim gift deliverers]."
Though the Yesha Council distanced itself from the disruptions, Land of Israel activists, including Nadia Matar of Women in Green and Moshe Feiglin of Jewish Leadership, hailed the road-blockings as a grassroots cry that "the house is on fire," Arutz-7 reported.
"If students block roads when their courses are in danger -- if factory workers block roads when their salary is in danger -- did anyone expect that the residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza and their many, many supporters will go like quiet sheep to the deportation," Matar said.
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