WhatsappAnat Roth wrote the following in Hebrew today as the leaders of the protest movement in Israel created chaos all across the country on a day they called “The Day of Disruption” to stop a government vote regarding the way judges use a “reasonableness” clause to overturn government decisions and appointments.
I personally was a participant in the event described below by Anat, which took place 18 years ago to this day, and felt that it was extremely important to translate it into English for everyone to read.
Today, 18 years ago, the main event of the public protest against the ״disengagement״/expulsion of Jews from the Gaza Strip was supposed to begin: a three-day march, with the participation of 100,000 people, from all over Israel to the Kissufim entrance into the Gaza strip.
The organizers coordinated with the police in advance all the details and agreed with them on two overnight parking lots, and another day parking lot on the other day. The middle of July even 18 years ago was very hot, and it was impossible to walk a whole day in a row.
The protestors’ stated goal was similar to today’s calls: “to thwart, delay and disrupt” the Gaza strip expulsion.
The protestors prepared for this march for 3 months. People took time off work to attend. However, on the eve of the event, Prime Minister Sharon realized that the entry of demonstrators into the Gaza Strip could indeed disrupt the disengagement, and ordered the police not to allow the protest march to take place.
The Police Commissioner, Karadi, understood the message, informed the Yesha Council that he was canceling all the approvals he had given it, and ordered – with the approval of Attorney General Mazuz and Deputy State Attorney Shai Nitzan – to stop the buses for the demonstration at their starting points. 320 buses out of 650 that were ordered, did not start. At the same time, the police deployed roadblocks on all roads leading to the protest area in Netivot, from where the protest march was supposed to start.
Police Chief Orders Violent Actions Against Peaceful Protestors
The stopping of the buses at the starting points provoked sharp criticism (although very limited in scope): “The use of such extreme and unauthorized measures to thwart the protest march in advance is reminiscent of regimes that we would not want to be like,” warned the Civil Rights Association. “The attempt to prevent a group of citizens from traveling from one city in the State of Israel to another is illegal and constitutes a very serious violation of human rights.”
But Prime Minister Sharon did not hesitate, on the contrary. In order to strengthen the police, the Prime Minister ordered the army to be included in the task of policing the enforcement against those protesting against him – an action which is contrary to the role of the IDF and reserved only for real emergencies. Thousands of soldiers were mobilized to prevent the protestors from marching – including women with strollers, old men and small children – as planned.
The use of the army was a brilliant exercise by Sharon, the purpose of which was to delegitimize the struggle: to create a confrontation between soldiers and demonstrators, and then to present their struggle as a struggle against the IDF, the Holy of Holies, instead of as a struggle against the government and its decisions, as it was.
“I order you to prevent with all your might the entry of demonstrators and to prevent injury to IDF soldiers,” Sharon instructed the army and police commanders. This, while damaging the government institutions, disrupting the routine of life and using violence against citizens, policemen and soldiers. I expect you to behave with zero tolerance towards the violent extremists.”
The media also joined the bandwagon and presented the mass march as an anti-democratic move, which must be stopped at all costs.
“The truth is, we are fed up,” stated Yedioth Ahronoth, “we are fed up with the daily threats to turn the country upside down; we are fed up with the announcements of marches into the Gaza Strip, with one head, two heads or three. Since Mussolini held his march on Rome in 1922, there has never been such an explicit attempt, so brazen, to use people’s feet to change a legal government decision […] they want to use public pressure to reverse the decisions of the government and the Knesset, so there is no escape from us stopping these Mussolinis before the deadline.”
“We need to act immediately to reduce the scope of this war,” stated the Haaretz network. “Administrative arrests or arrests until the end of the proceedings, removal of illegal residents in the Strip, speedy trials for criminals, placing additional checkpoints and tightening the crossing arrangements at the Kissufim checkpoint, and any other legal means that can reduce the scope of the expected conflict.”
The Likud faction that gathered at noon that day turned into a battleground against the background of the events. “You are becoming the greatest danger to democracy,” MK Uzi Landau slammed Prime Minister Sharon. “Let the people express themselves and say what is on their hearts.”
But Sharon’s supporters in the faction were quick to incite him. “I agree that among the demonstrators there are well-intentioned people,” said Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim, but most of them are “a bunch of ill-intentioned people who want to do a targeted sabotage of the democratic system. We now need to protect the soldiers from severe violence.”
Hours before the start of the rally in Netivot, large army and police forces were deployed throughout the Western Negev. But masses of protestors succeeded in overcoming all the police and IDF obstacles and arrived at the rally site en masse.
At the end of the night, the Rabbis began marching to the first night’s parking lot, but after two hours of marching, 2 km before Kfar Maimon, the march was stopped by heavy army and police forces. After a long negotiation, it was decided to let the marchers continue to Kfar Maimon.
When the marchers woke up in the morning they discovered that they were surrounded by 20 thousand policemen and soldiers, spread out around them in seven circles.
Long live democracy!
