Welcome to 'Hotel Disengagement'
Gaza settlers establish 'Opposition Authority' to rival Disengagement Authority. Right-wing activist: Sharon has turned into the operations wing of Hamas
This afternoon, a group calling itself the Opposition Authority - a play on words meant to mock the government's Disengagement Authority - told reporters they intend to bring more people to fortify the area in an attempt to stop a planned Israeli pullout from the territory and would seek to establish more settlements in Gaza.
The fight, its members said, has just begun.
'Opposition Authority' press conference in Gush Katif
Speaking at its new headquarters, the Maoz Hayam hotel in Neve Dekalim, the group said some 200 families have relocated in the past two months to Gush Katif, Gaza's biggest settlement bloc, and 150 more intend to move there soon. Two new communities are also expected to be established in the area, they said.
Datia Yitzhaki, head of the group, told Ynet: "Two months ago we came up with the idea of defending Gush Katif. This is not the private struggle of our residents, but rather of all believers and supporters of Israel."
Israel plans to declare Gaza a closed military zone weeks before the evacuation of all 21 Jewish settlements in the area, which is set to begin in August. The army has said all border crossings would be closed to non-residents. But staunch rightists, who claim all of Gaza and the West Bank as their biblical birthright, have vowed to flock to the area ahead of the pullout and help settlers resist the forces.
Homes available
"Anyone with eyes in his head understands that if, God forbid, this plan comes to fruition, it will be as bad as the failure before the Yom Kippur War. We see our first priority as stopping the disengagement plan, and therefore we call on everyone to come and to stand beside us and to fulfill the Zionist idea of a strong presence here," she said.
Yitzhaki said there are 471 homes available in Gaza, 185 tourist apartments and rooms for rent and 278 caravans and apartments in existing communities. After all homes are full, tent cities will be established, she added.
She also said that new Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, who was sworn in on Wednesday, told her that 150,000 protesters would derail the disengagement.
"We are working hard to ensure we take him up on that," she said.
Promised land
Nadia Matar, head of the West Bank-based Women in Green movement, said "God gave us this land, and no one - including a Jewish person - has the right to give it away. The Arabs are trying to kick us out in orde to take the Promised Land away from us.
"Our reaction to a terror attack has always been to expand the Jewish presence here, to build another Jewish town. We've never given in to terrorism.
"Sharon has turned into the operations wing of Hamas and wants to throw us out of the Land of Israel. His plan is a different kind of terror attack, and so our reaction is the same: build, build, build."
The newcomers
Gadi Shalvin came to Gaza two and a half months ago from Jerusalem.
"I am a teacher and I still teach in Jerusalem. My message to my students, and to the whole nation, is that we must all feel connected to Gush Katif," he said.
Bentzi Gubstein of Maoz Hayam said, "I arrived during Pesach with my family. When my kids ask what I did to stop the destruction and expulsion of Jews, I want to be able to look them in the eyes and tell them I did all I could."
The hotel project is funded by Jews and non-Jews alike, both inside and outside of Israel.
