By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Sep 13, 2004
Nearly 100,000 Israeli Jews gathered in downtown Jerusalem Sunday night to protest Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to forcibly remove the Jewish communities of Gaza and northern Samaria in an effort to stem the tide of “Palestinian” terrorism.
While leaders of the settlement movement did not mince words over their seriousness in opposing Sharon’s initiative, they remained adamant that at no time should violence against the IDF soldiers and police officers sent to expel them be considered by the settler community.
Organizers of the event passed out a pamphlet entitled “The 10 commandments of the settler” to attendees, which repeatedly stated that the battle for their homes must remain non-violent from the settlers’ side.
“Physical or verbal abuse against security forces who, God forbid, would be ordered to uproot settlements illegally, is strictly forbidden,” Ma’ariv quoted from the document.
Unfortunately, it may be out of the settlers’ hands whether or not the planned evacuation turns violent, Knesset member Aryeh Eldad of the National Union faction told Arutz 7.
“We will wage a non-violent struggle; Heaven forbid that anyone should raise a hand against the soldiers or against a policeman,” Eldad said, echoing the sentiment of general settler community.
He warned, however, “the struggle will be in such numbers - tens of thousands of people who will not let go of the settlement [enterprise] - that what I think will happen will be that Sharon himself will give the order to fire artillery at us.”
Eldad pointed out that a few weeks ago a leftist Knesset member suggested to Sharon that when the time comes, he repeat the Altalena incident, and shell fellow Jews for resisting his plans.
(Following the rebirth of the state in 1948, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion ordered the nascent IDF to shell the cargo ship Altalena off the coast of Tel Aviv. The ship was carrying arms for the Irgun Jewish militia headed by Menachem Begin.)
“If Sharon refuses to see the tens of thousands and ignores everything, he will bring about a civil war by giving the order to fire,” said Eldad.
Far from seeking violence, the general consensus among the primarily bible-believing settler community has been to allow God, through them, to fight the battle for their inheritance.
“…We must remember that there is One who is in charge of this world, and we are merely striving to help Him help us,” Gaza Chief Rabbi Yigal Kaminetzky told the gathered throngs Sunday night.
Kaminetzky ended his speech by quoting a verse from Psalms 28:"Save Your people and bless Your inheritance; tend them and sustain them forever."
Prior to the rally, thousands of Jews gathered at Jerusalem’s Western Wall to cry out to the Creator to protect them from Islamic terrorism and expulsion from their homes.
But the Sharon government appeared intent on portraying those Jews who refuse to voluntarily give up their homes, and the right-wing Israelis who support them, as violence-seeking troublemakers.
"We are currently witnessing an extremely serious campaign of incitement, including calls aimed at civil war," the prime minister claimed during Sunday’s cabinet meeting.
Singled out by Sharon was a petition published in the Israeli magazine Sheva last week, calling on soldiers and police offers tasked with forcibly transferring the Jews of Gaza to refuse their orders.
Signed by 185 prominent Israelis, the document also called on the Jewish residents whose homes are threatened to hold fast to their right to settle the land.
Ironically, it was Sharon, as an opposition Knesset member, who in 1995 made a similar call for IDF soldiers to refuse their orders when the government of Yitzhak Rabin was threatening to remove several Jewish outposts.
"Sharon explained [in 1995] precisely how soldiers should go about not fulfilling orders, so for him to say now that we are inciting towards a civil war - this is scandalous,” Eldad told Arutz 7.