Scant media attention is being paid to the visceral deeply dividing disengagement in Israel (you have no idea how difficult it was to track down a photo- imagine if it was Hamas or Hizbollah, it would splashed across the front pages of all the world newspapers). The world says it's no big deal, "a distraction", every lover of freedom and every Jew knows how heart wrenching it is.
"Monday, everyone will be heading south - on foot, by car, by any way possible.
We will block the roads into Gush Katif with our bodies," Yesha Council
logistical director Tzviki Bar-Chai told the crowd.
"all of us, every one of us, will be there on Monday, saying we will not
move from here. Beatings from Yassamnikim (riot police), the horses of the
police and the water cannons of the IDF will not stop us. We will be there! ...
Come to Kisufim and lie down on the road and don't leave. Our common objective
is to arrive at Gush Katif, and to interfere with and impede the expulsion until
there is either a referendum or new elections."
"We won't be stopped at
police checkpoint nor at military checkpoints," Bar-Chai said. "It's not their
job; Sharon sent them to fight with us instead of with the enemy. We will detour
them from right and left, and just like we reached Kfar Maimon against the Prime
Minister's decision, we will do the same again. We won't fight back; we'll be
hit and arrested, but we won't lift a hand, until the Prime Minister calls new
elections. If the nation decides in favor of dismantling Gush Katif, we'll cry
and protest, but we'll accept the people's verdict."
The giant Rabin Square was completely filled, after 300,000 Jews poured into the main plaza from all directions. Side
streets, as well, were packed with protesters in every direction.
You know how I feel about the disengagement...........
Believe me the thought of that tiny country getting any smaller leaves me cold, dead cold. And I was dead set against Oslo. But this is different...........this is not land for peace.
I
don't see it as land for peace, I see it as strategy for
war................they must protect Israel first and foremost and on
this I see eye to eye with Elliot Jager
With a heavy heart, I embrace Prime Minister
Sharon's argument that the Jewish state must not rule over Gaza's 1 million
hostile Palestinian Arabs in perpetuity; that Gush Katif is no longer a military
asset; and that to salvage as much of Judea, Samaria - and Jerusalem - as
possible, precious communities must be uprooted. Sharon claims that once the
Gaza withdrawal is behind us there will be no "gestures" and no "progress" on
the road map until the terrorism infrastructure is dismantled. If he holds firm,
if the U.S. pro-Israel community unites behind this stance, Israel will be
diplomatically better off than it is today. Disengagement allows Israel to
consolidate its defensive lines. It demonstrates understanding of international
public opinion, and stabilizes the home front.
There is a reason they scheduled it for the 18Th...............................
I believe Bush will be good to his word.
UPDATE: The OX Rant has a great photoessay on the rally, thanks....................go there now;
Israel is sending humanitarian supplies and relief teams to areas of
the United States hit last week by Hurricane Katrina. Additionally, a volunteer
group of Israeli divers equipped with powerful underwater flashlights will
search for the remains of victims of the disaster in the dingy waters now
covering parts of New Orleans. Israel's emergency medical services personnel,
among the best in the world, have been regularly dispatched around the globe to
provide humanitarian support in times of need. Meanwhile, Israeli universities
have announced that they will accept students from Tulane University, the New
Orleans school that has cancelled fall classes in the wake of Katrina. 
