Israel to Delay Pullout From Gaza

Israel will delay its evacuation of the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip until mid-August, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday.

Sharon’s government had been strongly hinting for some time that it would delay the start of the pullout by about three weeks in deference to a Jewish religious commemoration. Most of the settlers who will be evacuated are observant Jews.

The withdrawal was to have begun July 25, but that would have meant that the 21 Gaza settlements, together with four smaller ones in the northern West Bank, would be uprooted during a mourning period that ends with the fast day of Tisha B’Av on Aug. 14. It commemorates the destruction of the first and second Jewish temples in Jerusalem and is associated with a host of other tragic events that befell the Jews.

Sharon’s government apparently decided that uprooting communities during a religious observance whose chief themes were lamentation, loss and exile would be too great an affront to the already volatile sensibilities of the settlers.

“The evacuation will be carried out with consideration to the mourning period,” Sharon told Israeli television. That was interpreted to mean the pullout could start on or after Aug. 15, but the prime minister refused to be more specific.

“August 15th, or 17th, or 16th -- I don’t want to commit myself to an exact date,” he said.

Although the announcement of a delay had been expected for weeks, its timing, just in advance of a pair of national holidays, appeared to be aimed at quelling further debate on the matter.

Israelis begin solemn observances of Memorial Day tonight. The following evening marks the much more festive start of Independence Day. Israeli national days, like Jewish holidays, are observed from dusk to dusk.

Reflecting high-level anxiety that the Gaza pullout would be marked by civil unrest, divisiveness and perhaps a significant level of violence, Israeli authorities took the unusual step of placing a prominent Jewish militant in “administrative detention,” jailing him without charges or a trial.

Authorities said Monday that the intention was to hold Neria Ofan, a 34-year-old West Bank settler, until the end of September, by which time the withdrawal should have been completed.

Ofan was detained by Israeli troops Sunday at a West Bank roadblock.

Israeli media reported Monday that Ofan, found with weapons in his possession, was suspected of involvement in right-wing extremist activities. The reports also cited security sources as saying that dozens of other militants might be jailed in advance of the Gaza withdrawal.

Although Israel commonly has employed the practice of administrative detention against Palestinians, it is almost never invoked against Israeli citizens. Some legal commentators cautioned that its use could prove a slippery slope.

“I believe that a democracy shouldn’t use this tool ... except in very extreme cases,” Israel’s preeminent legal commentator, Moshe Negby, told Israel Radio. “There’s definitely a feeling here that the courts are a rubber stamp, to a great extent.”

Judges can overturn administrative detention orders issued by the military and Israel’s domestic security agency, Shin Bet, but only very rarely do so.

Nonetheless, the practice has its defenders, including some from unlikely quarters.

“Under the circumstances, it seems there was no other choice than this administrative detention,” Vice Premier Shimon Peres of the left-leaning Labor Party told reporters when asked about the Ofan case.

Authorities long have acknowledged that they were particularly worried about militant settlers who had backgrounds in elite combat units because they could use their military know-how to throw the evacuation into disarray. Ofan was reported to have been a military sharpshooter in a special undercover unit; the army, in line with usual practice, confirmed only that he had done his mandatory service.

Right-wing activists, including Ofan’s wife, Naomi, said they suspected that authorities thought placing him in administrative detention would have a chilling effect on all anti-pullout activities, even legitimate and peaceful protests.

“Every time they want to arrest someone, they fabricate all kinds of things about the person,” Naomi Ofan told Israel’s Army Radio.

Like the Sharon government, the Palestinian leadership has been wrestling with the question of how to deal with extremists.

Shootouts between Palestinian militants and police erupted Monday in two West Bank towns, Tulkarm and Jenin. Although no casualties were reported, they were the latest challenge to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ efforts to quell lawlessness.

Palestinian officials and witnesses said the daylong exchanges of gunfire appeared to have been the result of infighting within Abbas’ Fatah faction.

Fatah is weathering external challenges as well. Official election returns released Monday pointed to a strong showing by the Islamic extremist group Hamas in a round of municipal elections held Thursday.

According to the results, Hamas won more seats than initial returns had indicated, capturing control of municipal councils in about 30 of the 84 communities voting, including the large towns of Rafah in the Gaza Strip and Kalkilya in the West Bank.

Although still sworn to Israel’s destruction, Hamas has said it will observe a hiatus in attacks against Israelis at least through the end of the year.

However, it is contesting Palestinian parliamentary elections scheduled for mid-July, and many observers believe that the group is striving to establish itself as a political force working within the system.