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February 10, 2012
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David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
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Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
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Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
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Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
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Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
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Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
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John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
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January 11, 2012
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Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
August 16, 2005
/ 11 Menachem-Av, 5765
Human drama unfolds in Jewish Gaza, as residents confront authorities
By
Michael Matza, Dion Nissenbaum and Martin Merzer
|  Resident of Neve Dekalim confronts soldier at community's front gate |
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I am not your enemy, former soldier tells his Brig. Gen.Day One of Israel's retreat
JewishWorldReview.com | (KRT)
EVE DEKALIM A day of angry shouts, tearful lamentations and burning tires ended Monday with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon attempting to soothe Israel as it moved toward the climax of its withdrawal from Gaza: forced evictions by soldiers.
"I understand the feelings, the pain and the cries of those who object," Sharon said during a nationally televised address. "However, we are one nation even when fighting and arguing."
His comments followed a scene once considered unimaginable: Israelis delivering to other Israelis eviction notices from a land Israel once hoped to absorb. Sharon, once a key backer of the movement to establish Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, has promoted the withdrawal from Gaza as a way to enhance Israeli security.
The first day of the nation's withdrawal from the overwhelmingly Palestinian territory unfolded in blistering heat with thousands of soldiers and police making their presence apparent, but bypassing some hotbeds of dissent and avoiding confrontation in others.
Nevertheless, settlers and their supporters protested the long-anticipated action, and issued pleas for reprieve and when those failed passionate condemnations of the soldiers and police officers.
Any Israeli who's still in Gaza on Wednesday is subject to forced removal by the 55,000 police officers and soldiers who have mustered in the area.
"Remember this, my son: You are being used, and you will not sleep well for the rest of your days," David Hoffman, 58, of Neve Dekalim, said as he buttonholed one soldier, part of a force that finally evaded the town's human chains, burning tires and barbed-wire barricades.
The largest of the settlements, with 2,500 residents reinforced by thousands of militant outsiders, Neve Dekalim emerged as a center of resistance. Nevertheless, trucks carrying 31 large moving containers rolled into the community late in the day.
One confrontation in Morag, shown repeatedly on Israeli television, climaxed in a tearful embrace between an army commander, Brig. Gen. Erez Zuckerman of the Golani Brigade, and one of his former soldiers, Liron Zeidan, who joined hundreds of other protesters in blocking the gate.
"Erez, I am not your enemy," Zeidan told Zuckerman. "I was an officer under your command. We are not your enemy."
The commander listened patiently, nodded, then hugged Zeidan.
"We all love you; you are part of us," Zuckerman said.
By the end of the day, the army served eviction notices in Morag, Elei Sinai, Nissanit and Dugit. Similar notices were delivered in the small West Bank settlements of Ganim and Kadim.
Government officials said they expected about half the estimated 1,700 Israeli families who lived in the 21 Israeli settlements in Gaza to be gone by the 12:01 a.m. Wednesday deadline.
Two of the four West Bank settlements targeted for evacuation Ganim and Kadim, each with about 170 residents were empty of settlers by Monday night, Israeli officials said.
"The only way is the way out," said Eyval Giladi, the head of strategic planning for Sharon and a leading architect of the unilateral disengagement plan.
In Gaza City and other Palestinian areas, celebrations continued Monday. At one point, Israeli troops fired to deter hundreds of Palestinian youths who were marching toward some Israeli settlements, according to the newspaper Haaretz.
In Israeli areas, contrasts abounded as the disengagement operation slowly gained momentum.
The four communities in which Israeli troops walked door-to-door with eviction notices had been partially abandoned, so calm prevailed. Israel television showed soldiers entering a house in Nissanit and serving orders on settlers who appeared resigned to their fate.
The scenes were far more tense and potentially combustible in more militant communities such as Neve Dekalim and Ganei Tal, though the army decided on less provocative tactics there than had been anticipated.
Fearing fierce reactions, the military announced at the last minute that it would honor requests from five of the most entrenched settlements including Netzarim and Kfar Darom not to deliver the 48-hour notices.
Instead, satisfied merely to establish a presence, officers handed the notices to community leaders or to no one at all.
Army officials said distributing the notices was optional and that the change in tactics wouldn't affect the timetable for withdrawal.
In Neve Dekalim, advance military units were met with burning tires, roads booby-trapped by bent nails called "ninjas" and large bands of tearful settlers and militant outsiders.
About two hours later, reinforcements arrived, including a bulldozer, a water cannon and four officers on horseback.
A long column of police officers in black jumpsuits shoved aside the barriers and lined the highway to keep it open. Protesters jeered. The officers stood their ground.
Addressing the crowd, Parliament member Hanan Porat aimed his remarks at the troops, referring to the action anticipated for Wednesday.
"If you do this, it will haunt you the rest of your days," Porat said.
Although the soldiers didn't try to enter through the main gate, a small contingent moved into Neve Dekalim through its adjacent industrial zone.
Tension was evident, but the mood wasn't threatening. West Bank settler leader Shaul Goldstein, however, worried that the situation could turn ugly Wednesday.
"When they come to force the people to leave, it will look totally different," Goldstein said.
Among the settlers who were packing to move were Hani and Yitzhak Zadok, residents of the community for 22 years. "We built our life here; now we must pack it," said Yitzhak, 60.
He told stories of Palestinian rockets that damaged his house. He showed the crater in his side yard where the most recent one fell at 4 a.m. Monday.
A few doors away, four police officers were at a neighbor's home. They didn't hand out eviction notices. Instead, they tried to talk to the homeowner, who raised her voice when she told them to leave.
The police took seats in the shade. They were surrounded by settlers, who used a boom box to crank up the sound. It played an anti-disengagement anthem.
(Matza reported from Neve Dekalim, Nissenbaum from Shirat Hayamm and Merzer from Jerusalem. Cliff Churgin contributed to this report from Jerusalem.)
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© 2005, Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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