Forces evacuate protesters from Neve Dekalim synagogues
Military and police forces completed the evacuation of hundreds of protesters who had holed themselves up in synagogues in Neve Dekalim today and were completing the evacuation of the settlement, HA'ARETZ reported . A number of setters and hundreds of soldiers took part in a farewell ceremony in the settlement. After issuing a final 10-minute warning, hundreds of unarmed Israeli security forces swept into the synagogue compound in Neve Dekalim, to end the two-day standoff with anti-disengagement demonstrators who refused to leave. Israel Defense Forces soldiers and police units forcibly removed the men and boys who had holed themselves up in the Sephardic synagogue in the compound, and Torah scrolls were also removed .A soldier and six protesters were injured in the clashes. None of the injuries were said to be serious.
One teenager flailed wildly and shouted: "May this be a stain on your hearts forever." An exhausted soldier, drenched in sweat, was pulled out on a stretcher sobbing: "I can't go on. "Neveh Dekalim, the largest settlement in Gush Katif, has been the focus of operations since the first day of forcible evacuation. Military sources said they expected the evacuation of Neve Dekalim to be completed by this evening.
Radical stronghold crumbles
The evacuation of Kfar Yam was completed this evening after a tense day-long standoff with radicals holed up in the Yitzhaki family compound, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Special police and IDF forces had stormed the radical stronghold in Kfar Yam.
As forces broke into the house, the activists inside threw bags of feces on them. Seven youths fled to the nearby sea after the compound fell to the IDF's evacuation forces.
Aryeh and Datya Yitzhaki, leaders of the Kela Authority, are well known to security forces as having radical opinions. The two led the takeover of an empty Gaza hotel by far-right activists roughly a month ago evacuated by security forces.
Earlier, Yitzhaki warned journalists to get away from his house so that they wouldn't get in the crossfire when he opened fire. Surrounded by a fence of barbed wire to shore up his makeshift fortress, Yitzhaki shouted to the evacuating forces over a loudspeaker: "I promise you that if you come anywhere near here you will be stopped!" At a briefing to the press in nearby Shirat Hayam, Police Insp.-Gen. Moshe Karadi noted that one of the reasons that such large numbers of troops had filled the settlement was to deal with the Yitzhaki compound. The evacuation of the Yitzhaki compound, Karadi said, would be dealt with separately after Shirat Hayam was emptied.
Women pray for miracle in Neve Dekalim
The Ashkenazi synagogue in Neve Dekalim witnessed heartbreaking scenes today, where young women and rabbis prayed for many hours, before security forces finally entered into the synagogue, YNET reported. For three hours, the women and girls listened to rabbis' lessons, recited psalms, prayed and sang - a last prayer with much conviction, purpose, and tears. The girls called out for God to make a last minute change and reverse the "evil fate of disengagement." The Holy Ark was opened by the rabbis to begin the prayers, and some of the women called out the famous prayer, "Our Father, our King, open the gates of heaven to our prayers." The scenes were interrupted when a number of female soldiers and policewomen entered the synagogue. It was then that a rabbi's wife came on the stage and invited one of policewomen to join her in prayer, saying: "The synagogue is a holy place for us all, for the nation of Israel and for this community," she said. "From here funerals go out. We want you to join us for prayer, and understand that you can't take us out of the synagogue. We pray for the welfare of IDF soldiers in its war against our enemies, every Shabbat. We want to continue to pray here, and we ask you not to do this terrible thing."
After the prayers, the security forces prepared to take the worshippers out of the synagogue, but the women sat underneath the benches, and tried to hold onto anything to prevent them being dragged out. They were however evacuated from the synagogue.
[Today's Israel Line was prepared by by Hili Sharon at the Consulate General of Israel in New York.]