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Peace Process

'Disengagement' winds down


By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
August 23, 2005

What CNN described as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon?s ?big gamble? appeared to have paid off Tuesday, as the last Jews slated for expulsion under the ?disengagement? plan were driven out of their homes, and opinion polls in Israel showed the premier strongly supported in his actions by a majority of his countrymen.

In a day of high drama but virtually free of violence, nearly 10,000 police and soldiers entered the two Jewish communities of Sa-Nur and Homesh in the hill country of northern Samaria, bracing for aggressive resistance but, in the words of a police spokeswoman, ?absolutely resolved? to complete the forced removals from those settlements by sundown.

Their determination was evident in their readiness to use metal-cutters, cranes, container-sized cages, front-end loaders and teargas to get the stubborn protesters out of seminaries and off the roofs of synagogue.

Once again, wild speculation about plans to violently resist the expulsions turned out to be nothing more than a transparent effort on the part of the enemies of the Jewish settlers to portray them in the worst possible light.

Holding hands, singing, pleading with the soldiers to disobey orders, and calling out for divine intervention, the ?extremists? resisted the efforts for as long as they could before they were dragged off and bussed out of the area.

While Israelis and Palestinian Arabs were watching the vivid scenes broadcast live on their television sets, giant bulldozers and other construction machinery were roaring through the 21 Gaza Strip towns whose residents were expelled in the first stage of the evacuations. As the hours passed, more and more beautifully built and lovingly cared for homes, synagogues, schools and gardens were reduced to heaps of rubble and dirt.

Wrote Israel Insider: ?The pullout from Gaza and part of the West Bank represents the first time Israel has abandoned territory the Palestinians claim for their future state.?

As evening approached, international media networks were already speculating about the next step in the process, and wondering when the Palestinian Arabs would finally be able to claim ?their? lands back.

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