Police to cage resistant Jewish settlers

ABC | July 28 2005

Israeli police plan to cage Jewish settlers who forcibly resist next month's pull-out from the Gaza Strip.

Opponents of the evacuation are planning another mass rally in an effort to stop the withdrawal.

Israeli police have been practising using large wooden cages to remove Jewish settlers who could position themselves on the roofs of their houses.

The security forces plan to use cranes to lower the cages into position before forcibly removing any settler who resists.

Police used cages 23 years ago during the evacuation of the Yamit settlement in the Sinai, when Israel handed the territory back to Egypt.

Settler leaders planning a new rally say they expect tens of thousands of protesters to try to march into the main settlement bloc in the Gaza Strip in an effort to stop the evacuation.