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| By Israel Insider staff and partners August 4, 2005 |
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| AP |
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At the Paduim-Ra'anan junction on the outskirts of the development town of Ofakim, a dozen miles east of the entrance to the Gaza Strip, more than ten thousand marchers faced off against thousands of police officers and IDF soldiers as they attempt to move in the direction of the Jewish communities of Gush Katif. Neither side would yield, and many anti-expulsion demonstrators remained on the road for the night. Others headed for Gaza, and tried to join the hundreds who reportedly infiltrated since yersterday. Dozens were arrested before they could reach the Kissufim Crossing.
A half hour after the forces met, at the direction of the Rabbis and settlement leaders who led them, the protesters sat down in the road facing the police and began to sing songs of religious Zionism, including Am Yisrael Chai [The Nation of Israel Lives] and Ani Ma'amin [I Believe] Others carried out a symbolic rending of their clothes in mourning for the death of democracy in Israel and the impending tragedy which threatens the communities of Jewish Gaza.
Bentzy Lieberman, head of the Yesha Council, reported that after the first protest marchers reached the first police bloc, they stood in their place and did not continue. However, several dozen special unit policemen broke into their ranks and tried to incite the crowd to a reaction, Israel National News reported.
Lieberman complained that the police breached the promises and understandings reached by the heads of the Yesha Council with them. "It's impossible that the police, under the guidance of the Sharon family, continue to interfere with democratic protests. This is a responsible population and the police are behaving violently," he complained, according to INN.
Despite the high tension, there were no reported violent clashes at the junction.
The marchers reported have devised a strategy to split into several groups: some to confront police, some to block roads, and others to try to break through and make their way across fields to Gaza.
When negotiations with the poice to allow the protesters to proceed to a nearby campsite failed, organizers instructed the demonstrators to sleep on the road.
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