Source: Reuters, 12-5-2005.‏
Summary: GUSH KATIF, Gaza Strip - Thousands of right-wing "Israelis" poured into Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip on Thursday marking "Israel`s" Independence Day with a protest against a planned pullout from Gaza in August.‏
Their protests were followed by two blasts near "Israeli" Army positions in the Shibaa Farms "Israel" occupies near the northern border, the army claimed were presumed rocket attacks. No casualties were reported.‏
In Gaza, protesting settlers and their allies vowed to stay in homes in the sandy coastal strip that "Israel" has occupied since the 1967 Middle East war. They defiantly inaugurated a new synagogue in the southern Kfar Darom settlement.‏
"We are continuing our lives," settler Haim Bloch claimed. "We believe we will be here forever and we hope the people with these strange and difficult ideas will come to their senses and understand that Gush Katif is our home forever."‏
Settlers dressed in blue and white, the colors of the "Israeli" flag, held picnics in the areas where 8,500 Jews live isolated from 1.3 million Palestinians.‏
Some chanted psalms, while others waved flags and danced to "Israeli" music. Many also wore orange, symbolic of the protest movement against "Israeli" Prime Minister Ariel Sharon`s plan to remove Gaza settlements.‏
Most "Israelis" favor giving up the costly-to-defend enclaves.‏
Sharon Heckled‏
In a sign of tension as the Gaza pullout draws closer, a handful of protesters heckled Sharon as he tried to speak at an international Bible quiz contest in Jerusalem (Al-Quds) with shouts of "Jews don`t expel other Jews."‏
The chanting was followed by applause from sections of the audience. At least one protester who raised a banner to protest against the withdrawal was swiftly removed from the room.‏
Once the champion of the settler movement, Sharon fought for over a year to get his Gaza pullout plan past his cabinet and parliament, splitting his right-wing Likud party in the process.‏
Palestinians welcome any pullout from occupied land, but see Sharon`s plan as a ruse to cement "Israel`s" hold on much of the West Bank, which they want with Gaza for a future state.‏
The explosions near "Israeli" positions in the occupied Lebanese Shibaa Farms border area with Lebanon came as the protests waned.‏
There were no reports of injuries, but the blasts notched up tensions at the Lebanese frontier a day after a rocket fired from south Lebanon landed in a northern "Israeli" town.‏
"Israel" had been considering how to respond to Wednesday`s rocket fire from Lebanon, which caused no casualties, when the fresh blasts struck. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.‏
An army spokeswoman claimed "Israel" had dispatched helicopters to pinpoint the exact cause and location of the blasts, but soldiers could not conduct a thorough probe until morning.‏
A spokeswoman for United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was "gravely concerned" about Wednesday`s rocket fire and had urged Lebanon to prevent (retaliatory) attacks.‏
Lebanese Hizbullah fighters whose attacks helped end "Israel`s" 22-year occupation of south Lebanon in 2000 had not commented on Wednesday`s attack‏