"We know when it began"

Damned right I'm blogging in pajamas. It's 16 degrees, snowing, and I have some kind of crud or flu. Blogging will be sporadic, if at all. --Yael

Supporters of the settlement movement demonstrate in front of Israel's parliament or Knesset during a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to dismantle the Gaza settlements, Wednesday Jan. 5, 2005. Some 8,800 settlers are to be removed under Sharon's plan who, for the first time, issued a stern warning Wednesday to Jewish settlers who try to thwart his plan, saying the government would use all its might to carry out the pullout. (AP Photo/Murad Sezer)

Unity Coalition for Israel

Special Disengagement Update
January 04, 2004

Morale is high, despite the rain and cold, among the thousands of people at the anti-disengagement sit-in around the Knesset. MK Uri Ariel has moved his parliamentary office to the site.

The protest is actually more like a live-in, with tents set up along the length of the fence surrounding the Knesset. Many families spent the night there last night (Monday), and many more are expected to follow suit in the coming days. Some 2,000 people braved the rain yesterday to show up, and many more came today.

MK Uri Ariel (National Union) has moved his parliamentary office - equipment, assistants and all - to the protest site. It was reported that other MKs are expected to follow his lead. Ariel moved his parliamentary business to the protest site yesterday, spent the night with the protestors, and oversaw the transfer of his office equipment to the site this morning. He will be holding all his official meetings in the protest tent. His MK colleagues of the National Union Party held a faction meeting at the site today, near Ariel's new "office."

The protest is open-ended. "We know when it began," Yesha Council official Yehoshua Mor-Yosef said, "but we don't know when it will end." The protest takes place as Sharon continues efforts to form a new government he hopes will implement his plan to dismantle 25 Jewish communities in Gaza and northern Samaria, evict their residents and abandon the land to Arabs.

This afternoon at 5 PM, a large rally will be held at the tent site, which is equipped with food services, some heating, tents for rent, portable restrooms, and more.

A large electronic billboard keeps count of the number of shells and rockets fired by Palestinian terrorists over the past four years at the Jewish communities of Gaza. The number, which is tracked by the Katif.net site, currently stands at over 5,150.

Masked Palestinian militants with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades display a Qassam rocket in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian militants defied appeals by presidential election favourite Mahmud Abbas to stop firing rockets into Israel as they hit an army base in a new strike launched from the Gaza Strip.(AFP/File/Yuri Cortez)

See also PA TV: Killing of Jews is Mandatory