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A young woman is carried off in Neve Dekalim.
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners August 17, 2005 |
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| A Neve Dekalim woman and her child faces police forces marching into her town. (AP) |
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As infants and toddlers cradled in their parents' arms, a group of officers came to expel a dozen residents of this small town. One young blond soldier patiently waited as they women sang psalms and a resident, reportedly a Rabbi, explained in Biblical terms that the army was not living up to the Jewish traditions of King David and Samson.
"We come in the way of King David, who when he had a chance to harm his fellow Jews, did not do so. I'm sorry to say, he is not with you now; he's with us. You are violent; the fact that you're not hitting us right now is only because I'm not resisting. But you trained for many weeks how to fight us, and how to remove my baby from my arms."
"If you had real courage, you wouldn't be here right now," the Rabbi said to the officers.
The officer responded, "It is hard for all of us." Another one then said, "I know how hard it is for you, but I ask you anyway, even though it's impossible, to come out together with me, embraced together."
The Rabbi, in tears, said: "I won't. I can't do anything to ease your conscience. I want you to not be able to sleep afterwards."
In the end, each of the men, one after the other, tore their shirts in a sign of mourning, reciting the blessing, "Blessed... the True Judge" said on the death of a close relative. Women stood around, silently sobbing, while their little children looked on wide-eyed.
Then the Rabbi asked the officer and soldiers to recite a psalm together. Most, it appears, did so.
In the end, the soldier and Rabbi walked out, arms around each other's shoulders.
Elsewhere there were emotional and violent clashes, mostly limited to pushing and shoving. In Morag, a female soldier was stabbed and lightly injured by a pullout opponent as she was being evicted by security forces.
More than 80 young men, and dozens of young women were expelled from a synagogue, some dragged out as they were praying, wrapped in prayer shawls and tefillin. Most of those who were in the synagogue were expelled, although as of 1 pm some remained on the roof.
Knesset member Benyamin Elon protested the fact reporters were not allowed to enter the synagogue and said "it isn't only the Jewish state that is in danger here, but also the democratic state. Sharon will lead us to a military revolution."
Shocking images and exchanges in Neve Dekalim
A woman barricaded herself in her home and threatened either herself or security forces with a knife.
An older woman hurrying past Deputy Police Commissioner Aaron Franco, in charge of the first ring of the evacuation plan that includes Neve Dekalim. "Chase him," she screams, pointing at a twenty year-old nearby leaning on the neighbors moving container and crying. "He's a Jew." Franco said nothing.
As soldiers entered houses, residents yelled at them in tears: "Why are you kicking us out of our home? How can you do this? Tell us why." Men began to break furniture in the house so as to leave nothing intact.
The Jerusalem Post reported that one of the evacuating female soldiers started crying and collapsed. Settlers gathered around her, saying, "well done, you have a healthy mind."
Another settler yelled at soldiers of the evacuating force, "We fought in Hebron and Kalkilya against terror. Now you've come here to Gush Katif to expel the Jews. I'm not the criminal. I served in the army. This isn't a circus. How can you expel us from our home?"
Dikla Cohen, mother of three, expelled from Neve Dekalim, detained on a bus, called it a "pogrom." In her house a man prayed as other men, one with tears in his eyes, guarded the door as police called over a megaphone outside. Children cowered in the corner.
Thousands remain barricaded in two of the largest synagogues, with no contact with authorities. There are reports of a deal whereby those inside would leave peacefully later in the after noon.
There were also problems with those who were forced into crowded buses. Itzhak Hazot, expelled from Neve Dekalim, said that older men and women were forced onto a bus and kept there for five hours with no ability to go to the bathroom, forcing people to urinate and defecate in their clothing.
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