Tuesday, March 15, 2005
NYERS GAZA-BOUND TO SUPPORT SETTLERS
A delegation of 40 New Yorkers including judges, doctors and grandparents, is headed to the Gaza Strip today to show solidarity with Jewish settlers who are due to be ousted from their homes this summer.
During three days the group hopes to visit all of Gaza's 22 settlements, which Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon intends to close down — by force if necessary — in his plan to "disengage" his countrymen from the Palestinians.
"They're going to have to leave everything, even uproot graves," said Sara Lehmann, a Brooklyn mother of five who said she is going "to show my support and my sympathy."
The delegation will travel through Gaza in a bulletproof bus and sleep and eat in settlements that have been targeted by terrorists and come under fire of Qassam rockets.
Joseph Stamm, CEO of Med Review, said he's "a regular visitor to Israel" and isn't worried because he's "been to all the places people tell you to stay away from" such as the flashpoint West Bank town of Hebron.
He said he was going to "heighten awareness" over Sharon's controversial plan.
Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn), who organized the trip, said the group, which includes two Brooklyn State Supreme Court judges and two administrative law judges, is the first of several American delegations expected to visit Gaza in coming months as the countdown to withdrawal begins.
Although some supporters of the settlers have urged them to actively defend their homes, members of the delegation say they will counsel calm.
"The worst thing to happen is to have Jew against Jew," said Stamm, 58.
A delegation of 40 New Yorkers including judges, doctors and grandparents, is headed to the Gaza Strip today to show solidarity with Jewish settlers who are due to be ousted from their homes this summer.
During three days the group hopes to visit all of Gaza's 22 settlements, which Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon intends to close down — by force if necessary — in his plan to "disengage" his countrymen from the Palestinians.
"They're going to have to leave everything, even uproot graves," said Sara Lehmann, a Brooklyn mother of five who said she is going "to show my support and my sympathy."
The delegation will travel through Gaza in a bulletproof bus and sleep and eat in settlements that have been targeted by terrorists and come under fire of Qassam rockets.
Joseph Stamm, CEO of Med Review, said he's "a regular visitor to Israel" and isn't worried because he's "been to all the places people tell you to stay away from" such as the flashpoint West Bank town of Hebron.
He said he was going to "heighten awareness" over Sharon's controversial plan.
Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn), who organized the trip, said the group, which includes two Brooklyn State Supreme Court judges and two administrative law judges, is the first of several American delegations expected to visit Gaza in coming months as the countdown to withdrawal begins.
Although some supporters of the settlers have urged them to actively defend their homes, members of the delegation say they will counsel calm.
"The worst thing to happen is to have Jew against Jew," said Stamm, 58.
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