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| Monday, 17 May 2004 |
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Over 120,000 Israelis rally for Gaza pullout TEL AVIV, Sunday (Reuters) Mounting the Israeli peace camp's biggest protest in years, more than 120,000 people rallied demanding a Gaza pullout after Palestinian militants dealt Israel's army its deadliest blow since 2002. Crowds packing Tel Aviv's main square added to a growing public clamour for withdrawal from the war-torn territory, which Israelis increasingly see as a quagmire similar to Lebanon before troops moved out in 2000 amid mounting casualties. The killing of 13 soldiers by militants in the Gaza Strip this week has deepened already strong support in Israel for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza pullout plan, stalled by hardliners in his right-wing Likud party.The rally evoked memories of fierce public protest that eventually led to Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon after a 22-year occupation which cost the lives of hundreds of troops in fighting against Hizbollah guerrillas. Israel's top brass are concerned that Palestinian militants may have adopted Hizbollah tactics in their latest ambushes in Gaza, where 7,500 Jews live in hard-to-defend settlements amid 1.3 million mostly impoverished Palestinians. The rally, mounted by a left-wing peace camp that has been largely dormant since the start of a Palestinian uprising in 2000, began hours after helicopters hit Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza in apparent retaliation for the soldiers' deaths. The militant group, a main faction behind a campaign of suicide bombings against Israelis, said missiles destroyed its leader's office in Gaza but he was safely in hiding. In central Tel Aviv, demonstrators observed a moment of silence for the fallen troops. Israeli forces killed 30 Palestinians, including militants and bystanders, in Gaza raids this week. Veteran peacemaker Shimon Peres, head of the Labour party, told the crowd it represented Israel's majority and that its numbers far outstripped the 60,000 Likud members who overwhelmingly voted down Sharon's plan in a May 2 referendum. "We will say good-bye to Gaza," Peres said from the podium. The crowd size was estimated at more than 120,000, the peace camp's biggest rally during 3-1/2 years of Israeli-Palestinian violence that has left the movement in disarray. The YESHA settlers council, which organised a 50,000-strong demonstration against Sharon's plan in April, called Saturday's rally a "dance on the blood" of dead soldiers and settlers. |
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