Few cheers for settlers' cause

By James Reynolds
BBC News, Jerusalem

Some settlers have put up a bitter fight

I wonder if the Israeli police carry stopwatches to time their raids.

Perhaps they did so a few days ago in the Gaza Strip. In the space of just 15 minutes - or maybe more, I was not counting - the police raided an old hotel used by extremist settlers and overcame all resistance.

That this was achieved so quickly, without any shots fired, without any injuries to either side, surprised many observers here.

Much had been written about resistance the settlers inside the hotel - renamed Maoz Hayam or The Fortress by the Sea - might put up against the police.

There had been a fear of armed confrontation, of a bloody last stand.

But, in the end, the hotel was cleared out in minutes, not hours or days.

The evacuation marks an important psychological victory for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

He has now shown that his forces are able to take on extremist settlers in Gaza and win.

Protests continue

He may also be buoyed by the news from the latest Israeli opinion polls.

Gaza settlements are now closed to outsiders

They suggest that support for his Gaza disengagement plan has steadied - it is holding at about 54%. This follows a decline in previous weeks.

Ever since Mr Sharon proposed his Gaza withdrawal in January 2004, perhaps his strongest card has been the knowledge that a solid majority of Israelis are in favour of the move.

He will be pleased that this majority appears to be holding.

But settlers and their supporters are not about to give up yet.

In recent days they have held demonstrations across Israel, designed to show their strength and also to persuade the country that disengagement is not worth the fight.

'No honks'

A few days ago I went to see one of these demonstrations.

A group of several dozen protesters - many of them teenagers - was trying to block the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway during the evening rush hour.

For a while the demonstrators succeeded. But, very quickly, police officers came in to drag them away.

A water cannon was used to keep the protesters off the highway. Traffic got moving again.

Naturally, the television cameras followed the skirmishing between the police and the protesters.

They did not have time to focus on what may have been the most interesting part - the reaction of the drivers trying to head home.

Among these commuters there seemed to be few cheers for the settlers or their cause.

There were no honks of encouragement, no shouts of support.

If the settlers were trying to win friends, it seems that their plan did not work.

If they were trying to show that they could paralyse the country, then they failed again.

The official withdrawal from the Gaza Strip begins in mid-August.

With or without a stopwatch at hand, Ariel Sharon may be feeling confident that his pullout will succeed as planned.