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Commentary;
Well, the Islamics’ (no distinction between Hamas, PFLP, Fatah, al-Aqsa Brigades; their goals are all the same — the destruction and eradication of the Jews) human wave came up a wee bit short. Hamas policemen “blocked the main road leading to Erez” lest they be embarrassed after their boasts of a human chain forcing its way over the Gaza border with the rest of Israel went bust.
But the big question is; will the political echelon, the too-tired Olmert regime, back the IDF’s continued vigilance or will they, in their endoctrination of the masses as being exhausted from 60 years of conflict, get complacent and cause IDF complacency. Will inculcated complacency cause a surprise that the incompetent Olmert regime will be ill-equipped to properly cope with? MB
Gaza’s ‘Human Chain’ a Few Links Short, Rebecca Anna Stoil (Jerusalem Post)
Full Text;
Despite concerns that Palestinian demonstrators against the continued blockade of the Gaza Strip would attempt to storm the border with Israel during a “human chain” demonstration Monday, the event itself proved an anticlimax and the thousands of Israeli security personnel manning the Israeli side of the border were not forced to cope with the nightmare scenario.
About 5,000 people, many of them schoolchildren released from school early to attend the event and university students, joined the “human chain” outside the town of Beit Hanun, about six kilometers from the border.
The crowd hoisted banners in English and Arabic, saying “End the siege of Gaza now,” and “Your siege will not break our will.”
Organizers had hoped to form a chain running the length of the 40-kilometer Gaza Strip, but turnout was well below expectations.
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After the protest ended, some 2,000 Hamas loyalists marched to a checkpoint several kilometers away from Erez checkpoint. Hamas police, however, blocked the main road leading to Erez and called on loyalists to obey the law.
In preparation for the protest, security forces mobilized along the security fence Sunday night in an effort to head off a replay of last month’s Rafah border-storming at the Erez or Kissufim crossings.
An artillery battery was moved to the Gaza border for the first time in months, and rules of engagement were reviewed as troops prepared for the demonstration.
The IDF was unwilling to confirm or deny a Channel 2 news report saying soldiers would be instructed to fire at protesters’ legs should they approach the security fence, in order to prevent a recurrence of what happened at the Gaza-Sinai border on January 23.