Last update - 00:00 18/06/2007
MKs seek closure of cases against disengagement protesters
By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent
A group of Knesset members is working to close criminal cases against demonstrators who were arrested while protesting against Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip in August 2005 under then prime minister, Ariel Sharon.
The group, which includes MKs Yuli Edelstein (Likud), Othniel Schneller (Kadima), David Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu), Yitzhak Levy (National Union-National Religious Party) and David Azoulay and Chaim Amsellem (Shas), recently appealed to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to take action on the issue.
It has also asked president-elect Shimon Peres to consider pardoning the protesters.
Levy explained that during the disengagement "the police opened criminal cases wholesale, even for minor offenses, and the legal proceedings are still going on."
In contrast, he noted, after Israel's withdrawal from Sinai under the peace agreement with Egypt, then prime minister Menachem Begin ordered all criminal cases against withdrawal opponents closed, because he "understood that he had to move toward national reconciliation and heal the rifts."
According to Honenu, a human rights group that has been monitoring the matter, around 1,000 cases are open, including many against minors who have since been rejected for army service because they have a criminal record. Most involve offenses such as blocking roads or resisting the actual evacuation.