Israeli army ready for Gaza pullout

JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the army and police were ready yesterday to implement Israel’s historic Gaza pullout, insisting that extremist violence against the plan was totally unacceptable.

“The army and police will present their preparedness and I tell you, they are ready,” he told a group of MPs at a meeting called to discuss the state of readiness for next month’s operation. Senior army officers were also expected to present plans at the meeting to call up 17 battalions of reservists, with 43 000 police and soldiers due to be enlisted in the mass evacuation plan, public radio reported.”I want to say for the thousandth time, the disengagement will take place on the dates set by the government and the parliament …In the middle of next month, Israel will start leaving Gaza and the northern West Bank,” Sharon said.Jewish extremists opposed to the plan to uproot more than 8 000 settlers from the Gaza Strip and four outposts in the northern West Bank have waged an increasingly nasty campaign of sabotage and violence against the operation.On Monday, an 18-year-old Israeli appeared in court over an attempted lynching of a Palestinian teenager within Gaza’s main Gush Katif settlement bloc.”It’s allright to demonstrate and to protest but the state of Israel will not allow that roads be blocked, nails and oil be spilt on the roads, and police and security forces be hit.We will absolutely not accept this,” said Sharon.”They received very clear, unequivocal orders from me: not to allow this rioting which we have seen on the roads, or attempts to attack installations, or factories, by ninjas with all sorts of tools,” Sharon added.Late on Monday, Israel’s domestic security chief Yuval Diskin met former chief rabbi Avraham Shapira – who has backed calls for soldiers to refuse evacuation orders – in a bid to calm rising unrest among opponents of the pullout.Settler leaders have also drawn up a code of conduct, calling on all opponents to shun the use of violence against soldiers, police or Palestinians.Tuesday’s meeting came as the leader of radical Islamist movement Hamas in its Gaza stronghold said the group will allow no one to disarm its militants after Israel withdraws from the occupied territory.”We will not allow anyone to disarm us,” Mahmud Zahar was quoted as saying in an interview with Palestinian news agency Ramattan.- Nampa-AFPSenior army officers were also expected to present plans at the meeting to call up 17 battalions of reservists, with 43 000 police and soldiers due to be enlisted in the mass evacuation plan, public radio reported.”I want to say for the thousandth time, the disengagement will take place on the dates set by the government and the parliament …In the middle of next month, Israel will start leaving Gaza and the northern West Bank,” Sharon said.Jewish extremists opposed to the plan to uproot more than 8 000 settlers from the Gaza Strip and four outposts in the northern West Bank have waged an increasingly nasty campaign of sabotage and violence against the operation.On Monday, an 18-year-old Israeli appeared in court over an attempted lynching of a Palestinian teenager within Gaza’s main Gush Katif settlement bloc.”It’s allright to demonstrate and to protest but the state of Israel will not allow that roads be blocked, nails and oil be spilt on the roads, and police and security forces be hit.We will absolutely not accept this,” said Sharon.”They received very clear, unequivocal orders from me: not to allow this rioting which we have seen on the roads, or attempts to attack installations, or factories, by ninjas with all sorts of tools,” Sharon added.Late on Monday, Israel’s domestic security chief Yuval Diskin met former chief rabbi Avraham Shapira – who has backed calls for soldiers to refuse evacuation orders – in a bid to calm rising unrest among opponents of the pullout.Settler leaders have also drawn up a code of conduct, calling on all opponents to shun the use of violence against soldiers, police or Palestinians.Tuesday’s meeting came as the leader of radical Islamist movement Hamas in its Gaza stronghold said the group will allow no one to disarm its militants after Israel withdraws from the occupied territory.”We will not allow anyone to disarm us,” Mahmud Zahar was quoted as saying in an interview with Palestinian news agency Ramattan.- Nampa-AFP