'Settlers turn hotel into Gaza fortress'

[Englander]

Conal Urquhart in Gush Katif
Sunday June 5, 2005
The Observer

RIght-wing Israeli extremists are turning a Gaza hotel into a fortress to resist the Israeli army's attempts to expel them forcibly in August when Gaza is cleared of its Jewish settlers. Among them are supporters of Baruch Goldstein, a settler who shot dead 28 Palestinians as they prayed in 1994.

The activists, who have come from Hebron and Gush Etzion in the West Bank and Jerusalem, have taken over the deserted Palm Beach hotel and are stockpiling food. They say 15 families have moved in as they carry out renovations and they expect a hundred more to arrive by 15 August, when Israeli forces are set to begin their withdrawal.

Their takeover comes as increasing numbers of settlers in Gaza are turning their backs on the extremism of their West Bank counterparts and preparing to leave peacefully. That pragmatism, however, is rejected by the activists who took over the hotel last week, declaring it their private property and installing guards with Uzis.

Nadia Matar, the head of Women in Green, a right-wing settler group, believes the hotel will become a centre of resistance. 'Tens of thousands of people will break down fences to get here to stop Sharon's plan. That's why we are stockpiling tents and food so we can support them when they come.

More at;
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1499528,00.html

[iconoclastic cat]

1. Wait, wait...Are the settlers becoming more "hard right" than Sharon?

Sharon is already pretty "hard right." Are the settlers going full-on Ruby Ridge on us?

[Coastie for Truth]

2. More like full-on Waco

Kind of like Michigan's Macomb County "Reagan Democrats" who murdered Vincent Chin.

See , , and over 800 other narratives.

Macomb County "Reagan Democrats" - more right wing then Wallace, more right wing then Nixon, moree right wing than Reagan.

Note: I criticize Israeli right wingers when justified.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bridget Burke]

4. So--you want them to leave Tel Aviv, as well?

Of course, many of the extremists are safe in the USA.

[Scurrilous]

5. Four Palestinians hurt in attacks by settlers in southern Gaza

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/589298.html

<snip>

"Four Palestinians were hurt in separate incidents when settlers attacked them near the Gaza Strip settlement of Neveh Dekalim on Saturday. Three of the Palestinians were beaten, and one sustained light wounds when shots were fired from a hotel in Neveh Dekalim.

Israel Defense Forces troops and police officers were called to the area by Palestinian residents of the Muwassi, a Palestinian enclave on the coast surrounded by the Gush Katif settlement bloc. There they found a Palestinian with light gunshot wounds, and three others who had been beaten and wounded by rocks thrown at them.

According to the three, they were beaten by settlers, residents of the Hof Dekalim Hotel, while on the beach. Apparently one of the settlers opened fire after the Palestinians threw rocks back at them. The four Palestinians were transferred to a Khan Yunis hospital for treatment.

Two weeks ago, Haaretz reported that far-right extremists, mainly residents of the West Bank, had moved to the Hof Dekalim Hotel ahead of the implementation of the disengagement plan, and that the IDF was concerned that the site would become a stronghold for those opposed to the evacuation. Some 30 families reside in the hotel, including far-right activists Itamar Ben Gvir, Baruch Marzel and Dania Matar."

[Colorado Blue]

6. IDF troops kill Jihad militant who infiltrated Gaza settlement

From the same article:

IDF troops killed an Islamic Jihad militant Saturday afternoon after a four-person cell, comprised of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and Islamic Jihad militants, infiltrated the Gaza Strip settlement of Kfar Darom.

snip

The IDF is currently preparing for the possibility of a Qassam rocket attack on the western Negev town of Sderot. Since Thursday, three Qassam rockets have been launched from the Gaza Strip to Sderot. On Thursday, Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rocket attack, which it said was in response to the IDF's detention of three of the groups members near Jenin.

Soldiers find bomb lab in Jenin

IDF troops in Jenin before dawn Saturday uncovered an explosives lab operated by Islamic Jihad. Sappers safely detonated some 50 kilograms of explosives found in the lab.

A wanted Islamic Jihad man was arrested during the operation. Rami Muhammad Hassan Kandil, 21, had planned to carry out a suicide terror attack inside Israel. He had been previously imprisoned and was released by Israel as a gesture of goodwill to the PA.

[Scurrilous]

7. Police block road leading to Gaza hotel housing right-wing extremists

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/589373.html

<snip>

"Police on Sunday afternoon blocked the road leading to the Maoz Hayam hotel in Gaza's Gush Katif after some of the right wing-extremists living there attacked and wounded three Palestinians a day earlier.

The moveable roadblock adjacent to the hotel, which is located on the coast near the Neveh Dekalim settlement, is manned by police officers and secured by Israel Defense Forces soldiers. The officers will register all civilians entering and exiting the hotel compound.

Some 30 families of right-wing extremists moved into the hotel during the past several weeks. Among them are children and a number of central members of the outlawed Kach movement.


The decision to block the road near the hotel was made Sunday morning. There is still no legal tool that will prevent the use of the hotel by the far-right activists but the defense establishment is hoping the roadblock will allow greater supervision of what goes on at the site."

[Scurrilous]

8. Right-wing activists holed up in Gush Katif hotel

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/591617.html

<snip>

"Right-wing activists residing in the Maoz Yam Hotel, in Gush Katif, were holed up in the hotel on Thursday night, fearing that security forces would enter in the middle of the night and evacuate them from the site.

Military and police sources refused to confirm that an operation was planned for late Thursday night.

The fact that activists were residing in the hotel was raised in recent days in talks among the high echelons of the defense establishment, due to growing concerns regarding the assembly of activists and a violent incident that occurred near the hotel recently."

[Scurrilous]

9. Hotel raid called off

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3103195,00.html

Hundreds pour to Gush Katif hotel where far right activists have gathered, following reports that authorities plan to storm the building; settlers say senior IDF official pledged to refrain from raiding hotel overnight

<snip>

"Police and Special Forces were preparing Thursday to storm a Gush Katif hotel housing far right activists, but the raid was called off after hundreds of right-wingers poured to the area.

IDF Southern Command Head Dan Harel later promised settlers that the army would refrain from storming the hotel overnight, a message relayed by settler leaders to activists barricaded at the hotel.

Authorities were planning to raid the building in a bid to arrest suspects in connection with a brawl Saturday night that left several Palestinians injured. However, the operation was called off after hundreds of residents arrived in the area, some in buses, minibuses, and taxicabs.

Overall, at least 200 youngsters arrived at the hotel, along with many families and children."

[Englander]

10. 'Police, IDF investigate raid leak'

'The police and the IDF are investigating the possibility that the plans to raid the Palm Beach Hotel in Gush Katif were leaked to the settlers barricaded inside the hotel by someone in the security establishment, Army Radio reported.

The planned raid was canceled when the leak was discovered. Special police and IDF forces were already prepared for the raid when it was canceled.

Right-wing activists had flocked to the beachside Palm Beach Hotel in Gush Katif and barricaded themselves inside after they learned that large police forces were preparing to raid the compound to arrest suspects involved in last week's clashes with Palestinians. '

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1119493345925

[Scurrilous]

11. Forces raid Hotel Disengagement

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3106293,00.html

Israel evacuates right-wingers who took refuge in a hotel and allegedly incited and planned violence as part of resistance to Gaza pullout; move came hours after army closed off Gaza Strip to non-residents

<snip>

"Police raided a hotel in a Gaza settlement on Thursday to remove a group of right-wingers who had taken refuge there in recent weeks and who security sources suspected had planned attacks to protest against Israel's Gaza withdrawal, hours after Israel sealed off the Gaza Strip to non-residents.

Forces broke into the building with hammers and dragged the inhabitants, including women and youngsters, outside by their arms and legs, kicking and screaming "Jews don't expel Jews!" It took about nine policemen to evacuate one settler.

Other protesters tied themselves to beds with orange ribbons to avoid being evacuated. No one was injured in the raid.

Security sources said the hotel, which residents called "Maoz Yam," had been used as a "command center" for settlers and rightists who had planned attacks to try and scuffle the withdrawal.

"The wild saga by the hooligans, the brutes who were here has ended," said Dan Halutz, head of Israel's Southern Command. "We will return to our routine lives and learn from this."

[The Magistrate]

12. It Is A Shame, Sir, No One Was Injured

This would have been an excellent occassion for some exemplary head-cracking by the authorities.