By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Aug 15, 2005
Rejecting the voices of hundreds of thousands of their people, the Israeli Cabinet voted overwhelmingly Monday morning to push ahead with the ?disengagement,? after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made it clear late Sunday that implementation of the plan would not be delayed by a single day.
Four ministers of Sharon?s Likud Party registered their disapproval by voting against the second stage of the pullout, which approved the destruction of the Katif Bloc of towns.
However, none of them opposed the betrayal of their people in Gaza strongly enough to resign their cabinet posts.
At the first ratification vote a week ago, Binyamin Netanyahu resigned from his position as finance minister in rejection of the pullout plan.
Meanwhile, Sharon?s point man for coordinating the evacuation of Gaza?s Jews took it upon himself to declare the protests against the plan ?over? and warned that the government was determined to resort to force if necessary to ensure all those slated for expulsion were removed.
Eival Giladi described Gaza?s Jews as ?good people who were on an important mission and acted in accordance with the will of the governments that sent them.?
He then de-legitimized what those governments had done by saying it was now time for these good people to ?come home.? From the Sharon regime?s point of view, Gaza?s Jews have been living outside their homeland for the past 39 years.
Giladi warned that extra ?determination? would be used against the thousands of Israelis who have rallied to the side of the Gaza communities.
?In my mind,? he said, those who had ?infiltrated? the Gaza Strip were ?in a different position.?
From their perspective, many of the up to 5,000 Israelis that have made their way into Gaza to help resist the deportation of its Jews have done so knowing that their own homes in Judea and Samaria are next in line.