2. Internal opposition to Sharon

From Jerusalem NewsWire (JNW):

Likud MKs clamor for ‘Bibi’s’ return to power

As Finance Minister Binyamin “Bibi” Netanyahu spoke Monday about the dangers of uprooting the Jews of Gaza and northern Samaria, many of his Likud Party colleagues clamored for his return to the prime minister’s chair.

Also on JNW (1) "Netanyahu: Israel repeating Oslo tragedy"; and (2) "Sharon may seek disengagement violence".

The problem is this: Netanyahu is a minister in The General's government, and ipso facto supports his policy of deporting the Jewish pioneers of Gaza from their homes. Or am I missing something?

3. Minister Ezra, clueless

From Arutz 7, concerning a visit of Minister Ezra to the three youth arrested for protesting Sharon's Deportation Plot:

The father of one of the three Ayalon Highway youths told Arutz-7 what transpired during Minister Ezra's visit, based on what his son told him:

"[Minister Ezra] first asked routine questions, such as their names, where they're from, and why they think they were arrested. After they answered him, he then became an 'interrogator' and asked, 'How did you know how to get to the road-blocking?' They chose not to answer this question.

Then he asked, 'Do you believe there will be a disengagement?' They said, 'With G-d's help, there will not be. We have faith, and we will continue our activities to this end.'

Ezra said, 'How are you so sure that there won't be? The whole security establishment is prepared for it.' The youths responded, 'Arik Sharon might change his mind for whatever reason, just like he changed his mind before [by promoting this plan].'"

Minister Ezra then produced what he apparently thought was his best card: "You know that a rapist also believes in what he is doing?"

The shocked boys were silent and turned their backs on him. The father noted that it was actually the Prison Service official who intervened and told Minister Ezra that the cases were not exactly the same.

A call from Arutz-7 to Minister Ezra's spokesman as to why he made such a comparison produced a promise to check. A follow-up call a few hours later was greeted with, "I'm sorry, I don't have an answer yet."

4. The price of civil disobedience

From Arutz7:

Five Girls, Including Minors, to Remain in Prison

Jerusalem Magistrates Court Judge A. Cohen ruled today that five girls from Hevron, aged 13 and older, would remain imprisoned until further notice. The girls are charged with "attacking policemen."

The five were arrested on Sunday night on the path between Kiryat Arba and Hevron, where a group of youths attempted to rebuild a shack. The site, located on "Worshipers Way," is across the street from where 12 men, including three civilians and 9 officers and soldiers, were killed by Palestinian terrorists two and a half years ago.

The police accused the girls of attacking them; a film of the arrest produced by the Hevron Jewish Community indicates otherwise.

One of the 13-year-olds who was arrested is Yiscah Federman, daughter of Noam and Elisheva Federman. "The police saw us and arrested us, for no cause, except our presence at the site," she told them. "We weren't doing anything."

However, they took strong action afterwards. Yesterday morning, the girls were taken before Judge Cohen, who ordered them to sign an affidavit forbidding them to be anywhere near the Hevron Heroes neighborhood - the site of the shack - for 90 days. The girls refused, and the judge ordered them held in jail overnight.

This morning, Justice Cohen called the girls into his courtroom one by one, and asked them if they understood that if they continue to refuse to sign the declaration, they would spend all of Passover behind bars. Each girl answered that she understood. He then asked them if they would sign, and they all refused, one at a time. Judge Cohen decreed, "Then you will remain in prison until further notice."

According to several experts on Israeli judicial proceedings, there is no precedent for such a ruling, and it is essentially illegal. "They can't just leave minors in prison indefinitely. It's simply absurd," one said. At present, the girls are being held at the Gush Etzion police station, and an appeal is being filed with the Jerusalem municipal appeals court.

5. The reprieve: a status report

Both AP and Reuters have reported on the issue of delaying the Deportation of Yesha's pioneers by three weeks. The bottom line according to Reuters:

Israel Puts Off Decision on Gaza Pullout Delay

Israel on Tuesday put off a decision on whether to delay a withdrawal from Gaza by three weeks to mid-August to avoid a Jewish mourning period, amid concerns such a move could throw the plan off track.

A delay could give rightist Jewish settlers more time to mount resistance to the plan to evacuate them from occupied land, which U.S.-led mediators hope will kick-start a "road map" peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had ruled out any delay but changed tack on Monday, pointing to religious sensibilities during a period of mourning that marks the destruction of two biblical temples in Jerusalem. The observance ends on Aug. 14.

A few paragraphs further, one learn about the brutal nature of the Deportation Plot: while every possible effort is invested in training the Deportation henchmen, there are no dwellings into which to move the Deportation refugees! In Reuter's words:

[S]ome uncertainty has been raised by a lack of firm plans as to where to relocate settlers...

6. Almost nobody is moving

JPost reports:

45 Gaza families to move to nearby kibbutzim Some 45 Gaza Strip families have signed up to move to two kibbutzim just northeast of the Green Line, The Jerusalem Post has learned from kibbutz authorities. This brings the number of families who have agreed to move from the communities slated for evacuation this summer to 108 out of some 1,700.

This means that the huge efforts of the GOI to execute a voluntary self-deportation have broken just over 6% of Yesha's pioneers. Little wonder I am awe-stricken as I observe these courageous people fighting for their homes and land!

7. Did he really expect to be loved?

JPost reports:

Mofaz receives hostile reception in Neveh Dekalim

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was heckled by a mob of angry people Tuesday as he arrived in Neveh Dekalim for a meeting to discuss the government's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.

About 100 people surrounded Mofaz, shouting, whistling, and demanding his resignation. Some people called Mofaz a "coward." Gaza settlers overwhelmingly oppose the plan to uproot them from their homes this summer.

Mofaz, who was surrounded by about a dozen security guards, was not hurt. But the meeting was canceled after residents refused to sit down with him.

The description in al-Ha'aretz is quite graphic, from the headline on: "Settlers hurl insults at Mofaz during his Gush Katif visit."

8. Police brutality raised before parliamentary panel

al-Ha'aretz reports:

The chair of the Knesset's Law and Constitution Committee, MK Michael Eitan, harshly attacked Deputy State Prosecutor for Special Tasks' Attorney Shai Nitzan on Tuesday, demanding explanations for alleged police harassment at a recent demonstration against the disengagement.

At the committee's meeting Tuesday, which was devoted to assessment of the readiness of law enforcement bodies as implementation of the disengagement plan proceeds, several right-wing activists complained of police harassment at intersections where anti-disengagement protests have been held.

One of the witnesses to appear before the committee, Meir Arad, a member of Chabad from Kiryat Malakhi, reported how he had been arrested with four friends for demonstrating with signs against disengagement at the Rehovot intersection near the Weizmann Institute. Arad said his friends stood on the sidewalk and did not disturb the traffic, yet the police who arrived on the spot handcuffed them and took them to a police station, accusing them of disturbing the peace. He also said that the following morning, at 2 A.M. two policemen came to his door and delivered a court summons.

Mk Eitan asked attorney Nitzan to explain the police behavior, shouting and banging on the table: "If the sign had said "Arik is King of Israel," would he have been arrested?"

Eitan asked Nitzan to deliver to the committee the results of the inquiry about the police's behavior. Nitzan promised to supply answers right after the holiday.

Einat Yefet, a Gush Katif resident, testified about an attempt by undercover police to recruit her as a police informer a few months before her 18th birthday. She said, "Two men gave me a lift to Neveh Dekalim. I sat in the back, and they spoke to one another saying 'what a beautiful area, too bad it is about to be evacuated and destroyed. Then one man said, 'what a tragedy if there is civil war.' Then he asked me if I was for a civil war. I said, 'God forbid.' At that point one of them turned to me and asked me if I wanted to be an informer for the security services. 'What do you think of helping us?' I was surprised he knew my name and the fact that I coordinate youth programs in Gush Katif."

Amatzia Yehieli, a youth coordinator for Gush Katif, also told of attempts to recruit minors from among the settlers as informers.

In response Chief Superintendent Kobi Zrihan, head of the police's recruitment division said, "We do not recruit minors as agents. It is against the law to recruit agents under the age of 18."

9. Make the bastard pay

From al-Ha'aretz:

The spokesman for the Gaza Coast Regional Council, Eran Sternberg, was invited to a discussion of disengagement at an air force base about two weeks ago. Lunch was served after the meeting, but when Sternberg, a hard-liner among the Gush Katif settlers, saw he was to be seated at the same table as Yonatan Bassi, head of the Disengagement Administration, he left in protest. "That's like asking a rape victim to sit at the same table with the rapist," Sternberg later explained.

A few days earlier, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had met with settlers for a preliminary discussion of the possibility of an en masse move to Nitzanim.

Those who attended the meeting are considered the pragmatic and moderate leadership of Gush Katif. However, the settlers insisted that Bassi not be at the meeting. The prime minister had no choice; Bassi was excluded.

The Gush Katif leadership is divided in many areas, but they all agree on one thing: Bassi is a pariah.

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.