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Press Writer NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip They sang frenzied hymns to God nonstop for hours, pounded on the backs of pews with their hands, and wailed and clutched one another. Many wore torn shirts in a traditional sign of mourning. The hundreds of women and girls crammed into the stifling synagogue of Neve Dekalim were praying in vain for a miracle, appealing for God's deliverance from the government's plan to end Israel's 38-year occupation of the Gaza Strip. Girls pressed tear-streaked faces to the glass doors while they waited for Israeli police and soldiers to come drag them away. When the troops arrived, many of them were weeping, too. Some Israelis were offended that die-hards settlers and their supporters chose houses of worship for Thursday's political protest, their last stand against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to hand Gaza to the Palestinians. "To pick a synagogue is to play on a religious theme. It's hypocritical and it infuriates me. It insults my Judaism," said Ira Sharkansky, a political scientist. But Shlomo Riskin, rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Efrat, said the synagogue "is the place that one naturally goes to in time of trouble." The girls in Neve Dekalim _ mostly teenagers who flocked to Gaza from towns and cities all over Israel and the West Bank to protest the evacuation _ had spent two nights at the synagogue, for days a focal point of resistance. Backpacks were piled up and bottles of water littered the floor. At the men's sanctuary across the courtyard, men and boys rocked in prayer, their hands raised. They wept, at times hysterically, as they prayed for divine intervention. Some 3,000 troops took position on the synagogue lawn and the sands behind it during the prayer session. Before the troops stormed the courtyard, protesters spilled bottles of cooking oil on the slanted walkway leading to it. They also barricaded entrances with a refrigerator, tables, partitions and lumber. "If we can hold them off for a minute or two, that's good," one young man explained. All were brushed aside as Israeli forces came in. They started with the men, giving them several minutes' notice. The rabbi used that time to let out anyone who wanted to leave before soldiers and police came in. Dozens climbed out on ladders, throwing down their bags. Those still inside hurled bottles of water at the first 10 troops who came through the door. Some of the men and boys locked arms and sat on the floor in a tight chain. After wrestling to separate them, soldiers dragged them out by their arms and legs, bucking and flailing, and often weeping, as other protesters chanted "blasphemy, blasphemy." Some were carted off wrapped in prayer shawls and clutching religious books. Troops poured water over the faces of some of worshippers as they led them into the blazing sun. Once resisters had calmed them down, troops let them back in the sanctuary to touch the Torah scroll. Only women were involved in the evacuation of the women's synagogue, because of Orthodox Jewish proscriptions forbidding men and women to touch before marriage. Many girls wore pants under their long skirts to preserve their modesty when carried off. Two soldiers propped up each girl as they led them one by one onto evacuation buses, often cradling them as they cried inconsolably. Some, shrieking, asked security troops how they could expel other Jews. One man hugged the male soldier who escorted him. Yet some teenage boys continued resisting troops even while on the bus, and others banged the windows. A rabbi kissed one man on the head as he was led to his bus. "Rabbi, what is happening? Rabbi, what is happening?" the man wailed. Another man writhed hysterically, one foot bare. A rabbi crouched over him, trying unsuccessfully to try to calm him. One 18-year-old boy, Golan Mendelovich of Eilat, had said earlier in the day that he wasn't sure he would go into the army as scheduled in November because of troops involvement in the evacuation. After he was led from the synagogue, he sat down in the sand near the bus, weeping on a soldier's knees. One soldier embraced him and another stroked his hair. As the evacuation neared its end, about 20 men and 40 soldiers took part in the synagogue's last prayer service. Afterward, they went up to the ark that holds the Torah and kissed it. |
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