The Council of Settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip called on settlers and disengagement opponents to participate in a three-day march on Gush Katif starting on July 18.
“The march aims to cancel the expulsion of settlers,†council officials said.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz warned the settlers that such a move could force the army to seal the Gush Katif area to non-residents a month before the actual evacuation on August 15.ÂÂ
A statement released by the council read, “July 18 is the declared zero-hour by the council and all other organizations struggling against pullout.â€Â
The council hopes to prevent the disengagement by embedding hundreds of new settler families in the Gush Katif settlement block.ÂÂ
Council spokesman Helik Navon said 7,000 opponents of disengagement are already committed to arrive in Gush Katif. In addition, he said he expects thousands of settlers to “protest peacefully in the settlements across the country.â€Â
The Israeli Jerusalem Post online daily reported that the council was has been planning such a protest for months, but the details were not revealed until Monday night.
According to the plan, thousands of vehicles are to meet in Netivot and drive toward Gush Katif. The council expects some 30.000 anti-disengagement activists and settler families to travel to Netivot by convoy, or to walk if they are stopped at police checkpoints.
‘We have even prepared a small supermarket for people to buy food,’ Navon said. ‘We will not forget any small preparation.’
Dozens of settlers’ families in Netivot and Gush Katif have already begun gathering food for the marches, the J’Post reported.
Meanwhile, Mofaz said that whether and when closure is declared depends on the general behavior the disengagement opponents. The decision is ‘dependent on the general behavior of the opponents of disengagement and, of course, on how they behave here in Gush Katif,’ he said.
