2. But Hamas is right!

Time Online, 2005_04_14, reports:

Hamas militant adds ballot box to armoury

[Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas’s senior leader in Gaza]made clear that Hamas intends to claim Israel’s withdrawal as a retreat under fire and victory for its campaign of violence. This is exactly the image that Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, is determined to avoid, knowing that it will be seized upon by his right-wing critics, who accuse him of handing the Palestinians a “dividend for terror”.

3. Confusing signals - if the report is accurate

AP, 2005_04_14, reports:

Israeli settlers agreed to negotiate with the government over a planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip this summer - a sharp turnaround that could ease the way for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's top policy initiative...

Settlers have been threatening to resist evacuation from the 21 Gaza and four West Bank settlements, but there are increasing signs that the opposition might be much more limited than security officials have been predicting.

On Thursday, settler leaders authorized a team of 100 lawyers and assessors to negotiate with the government moving the settlers as a group to the coastal area of Nitzanim in southern Israel not far from Gaza.

Eran Sternberg, a Gaza settler spokesman, said the settlers would continue a nonviolent struggle against the evacuation, but lawyers are needed to protect their interests if the withdrawal takes place.

The lawyers "decided to fight for us so that we can continue our ideological struggle," Sternberg said.

The settler leaders advocate nonviolent resistance while whipping up emotions by comparing the evacuation to human disasters and genocide, and security officials are concerned extremists might open fire on troops during the evacuation.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has instructed the military to work with settlers on a voluntary handover of weapons just before the pullout, the Defense Ministry said Thursday.

But Sternberg said settlers don't plan to turn in weapons voluntarily.

"We have them to protect ourselves against terrorists," he said.

4. Calumny and response

JPost, 2005_04_14, reports:

IDF-issued weapons to be collected from settlers In a weekly meeting to discuss preparations for the upcoming disengagement, Mofaz decided that the army will be responsible for collecting the weapons of each settlement shortly before it is evacuated. Mofaz instructed OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Dan Harel and OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh to meet with settlers in order to reach an understanding and coordinate the move....

In response to the decision, the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip (Yesha) declared "such statements are used as political tools to smear the settlers and portray them as violent. Such decisions are unnecessary as it is inconceivable that settlers would use their weapons against security forces. Settlers who possess personal or IDF issued weapons received the necessary legal permission in order to defend themselves against the enemy," the statement said.

5. Police brutality and violation of human rights

In connection with Sharon's Deportation Plot, the topics of Police brutality and violation of human rights in Israel have been addressed numerous times. JPost has just posted a summary article by Michael Freund; excerpts follow:

A chilling pre-disengagement pattern of harassment

In recent weeks especially, there have been a growing number of incidents in which those opposed to the plan, or even those merely assumed to hold such views, have found themselves and their most basic of freedoms trampled upon.

Take, for example, the mass arrest of dozens of Orthodox Jewish youth this past Sunday after protesters blocked Tel Aviv's Ayalon highway for several minutes.

According to various reports, many of those detained by the police had nothing to do with the demonstration. They were arrested simply because they were religious and happened to be in the vicinity of the protest. This included a 10-year-old boy wearing a kippa, and a religious soldier in uniform.

Several teenage kids in the area were said to have been taken to police stations and held incommunicado for hours without their parents receiving notification, as required by law.

There have also been a number of instances in which people standing on street corners and holding signs against the Gaza withdrawal were taken away by police – for no apparent reason other than exercising their right to protest peacefully.

In one case, a 14-year-old girl was arrested a few weeks ago and held for 24 hours in police custody without being allowed to see her parents. She was denied access to her medications, even though she suffers from chronic asthma and was at risk of a potentially dangerous asthma attack.

6. Civil disobedience

From Arutz7:

Rabbis Urge Gush Katif Passover Visitors To Stay

Leading rabbis have called on Israelis who plan to visit Gush Katif and northern Samaria for Passover to remain in the Jewish communities after the holiday.

Officials have said the army soon will declare the areas closed military zones and that non-residents will not be allowed free entry. Hundreds of people have made reservations to celebrate the Passover holiday in the communities slated to be dismantled this summer.

Note: "Resistance News" is a daily column devoted to news about the Jewish resistance to Sharon's expulsion and resettlement plan. Let it not be said that IsraPundit observed the ethnic-cleansing of Jews in Yesha and reacted with indifference.