Unarmed Israeli soldiers forcibly removed 60 resisting squatters from Hatzar Adar village in the Yamit area of northern Sinai this morning. The militants, all Orthodox Jews, were detained at an army camp near Beersheba but no charges have been filed against them.
They were identified as members of two ultranationalist groups, Maoz and Kach, the latter headed by Rabbi Meir Kahane, which support the movement to halt Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai.
The resisters had barricaded themselves in mobile homes and temporary buildings after setting fire to old tires outside. The soldiers, young recruits, stacked their weapons before entering the buildings and carried the kicking, struggling militants, one-by-one, to waiting buses.
Defense Minister Ariel Sharon told the Knesset yesterday that the army would begin removing squatters from northern Sinai today. Yesterday, soldiers removed a group of yeshiva students from Ophira in southern Sinai. The removal operation is being carried out systematically and in conformity with the government’s policy of avoiding bloodshed. Troops are expected to move next against Maoz and Kach members who have settled themselves illegally in Azmona village in northern Sinai.
The militants have adopted tactics aimed at causing the greatest difficulty and embarrassment to the government. When soldiers approach, males barricade themselves in the local synagogue, leaving their wives and children in the homes they have occupied. The soldiers are thus shown on television to be moving against women and children whose husbands and fathers are praying or engaged in Torah study.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
