Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz supports not allowing the anti-disengagement right-wing protestors to reach the Gush Katif settlement in the Gaza Strip as planned for their march on Monday, Israeli TV said on Sunday.
A final decision on allowing the protestors to reach Gush Katif has not been made yet, but is expected to be declared on Monday by the Israeli Police Chief Moshe Karadi.
The TV said that the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon refused to discuss, during a cabinet meeting on Sunday, the request by the hard-liner Likud Minister of Education Limor Livnat to allow the settlers and their supporters to demonstrate against the disengagement plan in Gush Katif, 15 days before the pullout to start.
Sharon, however, allowed Livnat to present her request then gave the floor to the Minister of internal security Gedon Ezra to respond to her, saying that the goal of the Yesha settlers’ council by holding this demonstration is to disrupt disengagement. Sharon then closed the floor for further discussions on the issue, preventing the Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to comment.
Other Israeli leaders have voiced dissatisfaction with the settlers’ behavior saying that they challenge the law.
Israeli deputy premier, Shimon Peres (Labor), one of the strong advocates of disengagement, said before the cabinet meeting that the settlers ridiculed the law by deciding to demonstrate without getting a permit from the police.
The settlers’ demonstration is not meant to express their opinion, but to disturb the work of the police and the army, Peres said and called for preventing them to “disturb the law.â€Â
The Yesha council harshly criticized the government prohibiting the settlers’ demonstrations to arrive to the Gush Katif including another demonstration in Sderot north of Gaza Strip.
