Gaza soldier forced to blockade loved ones

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By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
July 19, 2005

An encounter Sunday evening between IDF Captain Assaf Yemini and loved ones at Gaza's Kissufim Crossing demonstrated the wrenching effect of the internationally-backed ?disengagement? plan on Israeli society.

Yemini, a Golani Brigade company commander from the southern Gaza town of Gadid, was placed in charge of the roadblock at Kissufim with orders to prevent non-resident Israelis from entering Gaza prior to the coming evacuation of area Jews.

Shoshanna Alnakova, Yemini?s teacher and neighbor in Gadid, described for Arutz 7 her ?surprise? at finding Assaf opposite her upon approaching Kissufim.

At the time ?there was chaos at the Kissufim Crossing, with residents urging soldiers to refuse orders to bar Jews from Gush Katif,? Alnakova told Arutz 7.

?Assaf, you can?t prevent Jews from going to their homes ? refuse the order,? she recalled telling her friend and former pupil. ?He broke out in tears and said to me, ?not near my soldiers,? eventually allowing me to pass without showing my ID.?

A short time later, Alnakova said, Assaf's ?parents arrived and his mother begged him to come home. That scene was one of the hardest I have ever witnessed.?

Like most of Gaza's Jewish residents, Alnakova told Arutz 7 she expected many soldiers would follow the example set by Corporal Avi Bieber last month when faced with orders to confront and uproot their fellow Jews.

?When Avi saw police and soldiers hitting and injuring [anti-pullout activists] he got up and said 'I am unable' ... A soldier that does not say this will never be able to forgive himself for the fact that he threw Jews out of their homes.?

Bieber is currently serving a two-month jail sentence for his actions. He was denied the right to a trial by military tribunal.

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