Only about 200 members of the movement to stop the withdrawal from Sinai attended the seder at Yamit, a far cry from the turn-out of “more than 2000” predicted by leaders af the movement.
The Passover feast, held at a war memorial taken over two weeks ago by militant yeshiva students was intended as a demonstration by squatters in the northern Sinai town that they, have no intention of leaving. Sinai is to be returned to Egypt on April 25. Among those at the seder were Knesset members Geula Cohen, Yuval Neeman and Hanan Porat of the ultra-nationalist Tehiya faction.
Spokesmen for the anti-withdrawal movement claimed that an additional 400 supporters had come to Yamit over the holiday. They said “more than 100,000 prel tors” would join a “march to Yamit” tomorrow.
The squatters, mainly Orthodox Jews, complained to the government today that contractors employed by the Jewish Agency to dismantle buildings and equipment in the Yamit region had worked during the Sabbath yesterday.
Although Sinai was declared closed to civilians as of midnight March 31, the army relaxed the ban over the holiday for Israelis out to picnic on the beaches. Several score thousand crowded some 24 miles of beach along the Gulf of Eilat to take advantage of the sunny weather over the weekend. But campers who moved into the hinterland for a “last look” before the region reverts to Egyptian control had their holiday interrupted by flash floods which turned the dry wadis (riverbeds) into streaming torrents. Most roads were reopened by noon today.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
