By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Aug 14, 2005
Israelis opposed to the looming expulsion of Jews from Gaza and northern Samaria launched what they have dubbed ?Operation Orange Dawn? Saturday evening in a last-ditch effort to thwart the plan by tying the hands of security forces.
The first phase of what some are calling the ?Orange Wave? - orange is the color adopted by the anti-disengagement movement - took place Saturday evening, as over ten thousand Israeli Jews marched around Jerusalem's Temple Mount to commemorate the destruction of their ancient temples.
The marchers had hoped to draw security forces en masse to the capital amid fears of a violent confrontation between the Jews and Arab riot mobs that had threatened to show up.
While Saturday evening's event ended without incident, police remained on high alert in Jerusalem Sunday morning, after Israeli-Arab Muslim clerics urged their followers to converge on the capital to ?protect the Al Aqsa Mosque from the Jews.?
On Sunday evening, anti-disengagement protesters plan to surround Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's official Jerusalem residence for 24-hours in a symbolic representation of the siege Sharon has placed Gaza's Jews under.
Meanwhile, the Jews of Gaza announced that when IDF officials arrive Monday morning to officially serve eviction notices, they will find the gates of the Jewish communities locked and barred by thousands of determined residents.
?We refuse to cooperate with the expulsion,? is the message Gaza's Jews will convey.
Settler leaders stressed their resistance will remain non-violent, though recent reports from disengagement training exercises indicate the police do not intend to respond in kind.
When security forces move to forcibly remove those Jews remaining in Gaza during the predawn hours Wednesday, roadblocking and other civil disturbances are to take place at numerous locations throughout the country.
The Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza is also urging all Israelis concerned for the future of the state to make their way to Gaza in an effort to clog main arteries into the strip and thus prevent the evacuation forces from entering or exiting.
Knesset Member Tzvi Hendel, himself a resident of southern Gaza, warned the government was laying plans to bypass the demonstrations by evacuating the Jews along the Gaza-Sinai border, a move that would greatly increase the risk of Palestinian Arab attacks on those being transferred.