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A Jewish settler pleads with an Israeli soldier not to carry out his orders at the Jewish settlement of Neve Dekalim, in Gush Katif on Monday. (AP)
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| By israelinsider staff and partners August 15, 2005 |
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Emotional confrontations have transpired at the gates of several communities, with reports of some soldiers breaking down under the strain. After a failed attempt to enter Neve Dekalim, security forces eventually agreed not to break into communities to distribute eviction notices by force, and in several cases busloads security turned around without accomplishing their mission. About 300 families have left Gush Katif since the operation 'Brotherly Hand' began at midnight.
According to an article originally published (in Hebrew) on Rotter.net, a group of 30 IDF officers that broke into the settlement of Neve Dekalim through a hole in the fence had to receive 'motivational speeches' from their commanders after a number of the soldiers were in tears or showing signs of emotional breakdowns.
Settlers reportedly stood before the soldiers and cried: "You will leave with this scar on your soul forever! The government of Israel will change and Prime Minister Sharon will leave, and you will stay scarred and disabled!"
In one scene, a sobbing settler pleaded with a brigadier general not to evict him before the two men embraced.
"It's a painful and difficult day, but it's a historic day," said Israel's defense minister, Shaul Mofaz.
At the isolated Morag settlement, hundreds of people blocked troops at the gate. One man, identified by Israeli media as Liron Zeidan, burst into tears as he pleaded with officers not to remove him from his home.
"I am not your enemy. I served as an officer under you," the man told Brig. Gen. Erez Zuckerman, the commander of the army unit waiting at the gate.
Zuckerman listened and wiped sweat off his brow, then hugged the young man. "We love you, you are part of us," he told the assembled settlers.
In Gan Or, the army reached a deal with residents to send only a small group of senior officers to give the notices to community leaders in an effort to avoid friction.
In Nissanit, four soldiers came to the home of Yitzhak and Avigail Dadon, a couple in their 70s who said they would leave before the forcible removal begins. Yitzhak Dadon said that earlier in the morning, he lowered an Israeli flag that had been fluttering from his roof. Avigail Dadon cried, and a female soldier stood up to hug her.
In the Elei Sinai settlement, resident Esti Yamin clutched her eviction notice and cried. When the four-member army team left her home, she said: "They were very kind and I think they are doing all they can do."
With some 50,000 security forces involved, the "disengagement" from Gaza is the nation's largest-ever noncombat operation. Troops have trained to remove settlers, prevent violence by Jewish or Palestinian extremists and block outsiders from entering Gaza.
PM Sharon addresses the nation this evening.
The AP contributed to this report.
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