Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip is getting more controversial by the day, writes Emad Gad As Israeli occupation forces continue with Operation Days of Reckoning in the Gaza Strip, the controversy in Israel over Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan still rages. Sharon says that current military operations in Gaza aim to eliminate Palestinian resistance activity, the firing of mortars and locally-made rockets, and the ability of Palestinian resistance groups to target settlements and occupation forces. In contrast, settlers' groups and the extreme Israeli right believe that the operations aim to lay the groundwork for the dismantling of settlements and the withdrawal from the Strip, which they consider a violation of the idea of Greater Israel and a betrayal of the principles of the Israeli right and the settlement movement, one of whose spiritual fathers is Sharon himself. Israeli politics was further polarised after elements of the Israeli extreme right threatened to launch a campaign of disobedience against the withdrawal from Gaza and the dismantling of settlements. Sharon warned that if the polarisation continues, it may lead to a civil war, particularly after some rabbis issued a religious injunction forbidding soldiers from taking part in settlement evacuations. The injunction, released on 10 September, called on soldiers, officers and policemen to obey their "national, humanitarian conscience" and not participate in the evacuation. As the controversy over the disengagement plan has become more heated, the Israeli peace camp has begun to demand that the plan be implemented, pointing to an opinion poll that found that more than two-thirds of the Israeli public supports the withdrawal and the dismantling of settlements. The Israeli media has widely carried the debate over the plan which has reflected the strong polarisation in Israeli society. The potential danger represented in the calls of some rabbis to forbid participation in the process of evacuation was apparent in an article written by Nadav Shragai for Haaretz , "Leading rabbi takes militant line on disengagement." "The former Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Avraham Shapira, now head of the Rabbis Union for the Land of Israel, took a strong and militant line on the disengagement plan in a letter answering a follower's question," the article begins. "'It is clear and simple that according to the Torah, handing over our holy land to infidels, including parts of Gush Katif, is a sin and a crime. Therefore, any thought or idea or decision, and any semblance of action, of any kind, to evacuate residents from Gush Katif and hand the land to the infidels, is opposed to the halakha, and any action must be taken to prevent it, and not assist in any action that will evict [the settlers] from their homes and land.' "The rabbi's letter is a follow-up to a ruling by the Council of Yesha Rabbis last week that 'no man, citizen, police officer or soldier is authorised to help in uprooting settlements.' The council avoided calling directly on soldiers and police to refuse orders." According to Shragai's article, the Yesha rabbis also said, "'There is no way to be tempted by offers of bribery [compensation] whose sole purpose is to weaken Jewish settlement [efforts].'" "At the end of the week, the mayor of the Kiryat Arba, Zvi Katzover, supported statements made by Uri Elitzur, editor-in-chief of Nekuda, who said that he understands the use of violence against soldiers during evacuation operations. "Katzover had published a letter attacking the Yesha Council for criticising Elitzur's statements. 'I support his statements, and I expect anyone who comes to demolish a home in accordance with undemocratic decisions not to fall silent, and to prevent the bulldozers from demolishing the home by all available means and without harming soldiers,' Katzover wrote. He added, 'in making such a wretched decision, why doesn't the prime minister consider that it will tear people apart, and will lead to destruction and bloodshed?'" The media also addressed activities undertaken by some extremist Jewish groups who oppose Sharon's plan and may actively seek to obstruct it using all possible means, including the use of force and terrorist operations. An article published on www.walla.co.il on 11 September, "Heightened fears of terrorist attacks by Jewish groups", reports, "the security establishment suspects that Jewish terrorist groups are training for terrorist attacks on Arabs to thwart the disengagement plan. High-level sources told Channel One that a broad campaign of administrative arrests of rightwing extremists is expected to begin soon." The article added, "Minister of Justice Yosef Lapid commented yesterday morning on calls and threats by some rabbis and settlers to use force to resist the evacuation of settlements. Lapid said this is a threat to the sovereignty of the law and state security. 'We cannot allow them to incite a civil war in the name of love of the nation,' Lapid said. He added that the judiciary cannot remain unconcerned when incitement turns into a tangible threat to rebel and use force against the security establishment. "MK Matan Vilnai (Labour) said that the religious injunction issued by some on the right describing the evacuation of settlements as a crime against humanity is 'a threat to civil war'. 'Anyone who includes threats of civil war in political discourse and plots against legitimate operations by the security forces cannot be considered part of Israeli society,' Vilnai said. Labour Party President Shimon Peres described the injunction as 'foolish', saying that anyone threatening civil war wants to kill democracy, and this will be prevented by all means." According to a report published in Maariv on 5 July 2004, members of the outlawed Kach movement are holding training sessions teaching settlers how to resist evacuation. The paper reported that prominent Kahane supporters were encouraging trainees to carry out operations against Israeli security forces. One trainee said, "if I understand things correctly, war need not be conducted democratically with a smile. Rather it should be conducted clearly with fangs and full force. This will be a war. It will be war, nothing else." As the controversy continued, the news that Courage to Refuse had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize encouraged the peace camp in general to continue to work to bring about an Israeli withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territory. Hanan Greenberg wrote an article on the subject for Yediot Aharonot online saying, "it's certain that the Israeli army will not be pleased but this cannot change the fact that Courage to Refuse and its President David Zonshein have been officially nominated for the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. The Israeli organisation was nominated by two former Nobel Peace Prize winners, including Carlos Jimenez Belo, who won the prize in 1996. Belo is a priest from East Timor who led his people in the battle against the Indonesian authorities who occupied his country in 1975 and killed one-third of the population within a year. "The second Nobel laureate to nominate the group was Roberta Menchu, who was awarded the peace prize in 1992 for her leadership in the struggle against the regime in Guatemala and her activities on behalf of the rights of the Native American population. "David Zonshein, head of Courage to Refuse, says that the two Nobel laureates informed him of their decision to nominate the movement for the Nobel. "'It is difficult to imagine standing on the podium at Oslo, but I'm happy with this international recognition,' Zonshein said. 'People in the world know where I came from. They know that I come from the centre of social life in Israel, and that we're not just a raving mad movement.' He believes that his message and that of his colleagues has now reached the international community. "Courage to Refuse was established in 2002 after a letter was signed by 50 officers and soldiers who refused to defend the state outside its official borders. Today the movement includes 600 officers and soldiers in the reserves, half of whom have been thrown into military prisons for their refusal to serve. Over the last year, the movement has been joined by pilots with the Israeli air force and soldiers from the elite Sayeret Matkal unit." To learn more about the controversy over Sharon's disengagement plan, please visit the website of Arabs Against Discrimination www.aad-online.org.
