Israeli
and Palestinian forces were ordered to move into position on Sunday
to secure the impending evacuation of Jewish settlements in the
Gaza Strip.
"From Sunday morning, Israeli police are going to be on their
highest alert," national police commissioner Moshe Karadi said,
announcing a series of roadblocks in southern Israel to block
pullout opponents from slipping into Gaza settlements.
A Palestinian task force was also due to deploy in areas near the
settlement enclaves to prevent any attempt by Palestinian militants
to disrupt an evacuation scheduled to begin on Wednesday.
Palestinian Interior Minister Nasser Youssef instructed the
security forces to raise their "level of readiness" to 100 percent,
his ministry said on Saturday.
Israel intends on Monday to issue eviction notices in all 21
settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank under Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon's plan, enshrined in law, to "disengage" from
occupied areas he regards of little security value.
The 9,000 settlers ordered out will have a 48-hour grace period to
leave before unarmed Israeli evacuation squads arrive early on
Wednesday to remove any holdouts.
"Our prayers will save us," said Benny Cohen, 55, of the Gaza
settlement of Neve Dekalim.
The settlement's synagogues were filled with worshippers late on
Saturday reading from the Book of Lamentations on the Jewish fast
day of Tisha B'Av, when the devout mourn the ancient destruction of
Jerusalem's two biblical Temples.
"Tonight is tinged with sadness and future generations will look at
this day with awe," said Yohanan Abramovich, 19, a West Bank
settler who managed to reach Neve Dekalim despite a month-old army
entry ban on non-residents.
Israeli police chief believes pullout will be peaceful
In an interview on Israel's Channel Two TV on Saturday, Karadi said
some 3,000 settler supporters had made it to Gush Katif, the
largest Gaza settlement bloc, despite the closure.
"I believe that ultimately the evacuation and the protests will end
without casualties," Karadi said.
Thousands of Israeli police and soldiers, divided into 16-member
squads, have been training for weeks - including in mock
settlements -- on the best way to face down defiance peacefully and
cary away recalcitrant settlers.
Karadi said the government would likely decide on Monday which
settlements would be evacuated first in an operation a senior
official estimated would be completed by September 4.
Government figures show more than half of the settlers due to be
removed have applied for state compensation, a sign they intend to
leave quietly.
Once the settlers are out, Israeli bulldozers will demolish their
homes under a deal with the Palestinian Authority, which wants to
build high-rise housing to ease crowded conditions in densely
populated Gaza, where 1.4 million Palestinians live.
Palestinians welcome the withdrawal but fear the plan is a ruse to
trade tiny Gaza for much of the occupied West Bank, where 230,000
settlers and 2.4 million Palestinians live, and deny them the state
they seek.
The World
Court describes the Israeli settlements as illegal. Israel disputes
this.
In Arab East Jerusalem, thousands of Israeli police deployed to
head off any clashes between Muslims and observant Jews praying on
Tisha B'Av at the Western Wall, adjacent to a mosque compound known
to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as Temple Mount.
Violence at the holy site could inflame religious and political
passions at a time when both Israel and the Palestinian Authority
are hoping for a smooth Gaza withdrawal.
