- Israel deployed more than 1,000 heavily armed police
and soldiers yesterday to dislodge a few dozen mainly young protesters
from an abandoned beachside hotel in the Gaza Strip.
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- The huge scale of the operation does not augur well for
the planned evacuation in August of Gaza's 21 Jewish communities, when
an even greater military effort will be needed to remove 8,000
settlers.
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- Fifteen busloads of police, in black jumpsuits, body
armour and helmets, had to be sent in yesterday while soldiers provided
perimeter security.
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- Naval boats patrolled off-shore, tanks were redeployed
and the Israeli army invoked special powers to make Gush Katif, the main
Jewish settlement block in Gaza, a "closed military zone'' for the
duration of the operation.
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- The troops and police moved in at dawn after a period
of mounting violence, including a shocking incident in which a "lynch
mob" of Jewish extremists came close to stoning a Palestinian youth
to death.
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- Khaled al-Astal, 16, was hit on the head during a
stone-throwing
contest between Jewish settlers and a group of Palestinian children and
teenagers on Wednesday. While he received treatment from an Israeli
soldier,
the Jewish extremists attacked him.
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- A witness reported that they shouted, "He is an
Arab, kill him'' as they ran towards him carrying large rocks.
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- He owes his life to an Israeli journalist who dragged
him to safety under a hail of rocks. The youth was taken to a local
Palestinian
hospital where his condition last night was serious.
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- The fact that the incident was caught on camera forced
Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, on to the defensive. "The
attack
is a barbaric, wild and heartless act,'' Mr Sharon said. "What is
happening in front of our eyes is not a battle over disengagement from
Gaza, but a battle over the image of the state.
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- "This is not a situation I will allow to continue.
The situation is not lost, and we will win.''
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- Opposition MPs demanded to know why none of the attackers
had been arrested even though the incident happened under the noses of
well-armed police and soldiers.
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- "When I realised they were going to kill the guy,
I had to do something,'' said Itzik Saban, a reporter from the Yedioth
Aharonot newspaper.
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- "He was already on the floor when they surrounded
him and started throwing rocks at his head and his body.''
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- The incident happened after extremists took over a
Palestinian
house in the Gush Katif area. The fact that there were no arrests among
the Jewish extremist group responsible for the attack prompted criticism
from Yossi Sarid, an opposition MP from the Meretz Party. He said the
incident
showed Israel up as a "pathetic country''.
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- He asked: "Is there any one in the army or in the
police who can explain why they were not arrested at the scene?''
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- Gideon Ezra, the public security minister, promised to
bring to justice those he described as a "lynch mob''.
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- Settler leaders tried to distance themselves from the
extremists, saying they were troublemakers and not genuine members of the
settler community.
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- The operation to clear no more than 100 protesters from
the ruined Palm Beach Hotel began at dawn, with the first rumours that
the army was going to lock down Gush Katif.
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- A large security fence around Gaza means there are only
limited access points which are easy for the army to block.
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- In the baking summer heat, tempers soon frayed among
Gush Katif residents.
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- "This is my home - why do I have to prove to you
that I live here?'' shouted one Jewish settler before he was let
through.
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- For years the hotel has been home to a few squatters
who surf in the nearby Mediterranean, but in recent weeks it had been taken
over by Right-wing Jewish extremists opposed to the Gaza withdrawal.
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- Most were young Jews from other settlements miles away
on the West Bank but they came to show solidarity with the settlers of
Gaza, promising to disrupt Mr Sharon's disengagement plan, which involves
the closure of all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four in the north
of the West Bank.
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2005.
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- http://telegraph.co.uk
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