And in the Gaza....

Things appear to be getting even more out of control.

Police have placed a ban on the upcoming protest march because settler groups would not agree to terms they had set for it to happen.

The march will still be held, and unfortunately it appears violence will errupt.

Despite the ban, the Yesha Council said Sunday night that it expects some 100,000 people to attend tonight's opening rally in the Negev town of Netivot, of whom about 40,000 will then continue to Gush Katif, which they are slated to reach on Wednesday. Some 1,200 buses have been rented to bring the demonstrators to Netivot.

Nevertheless, the ban did not catch the council completely by surprise: In the material it prepared for the marchers, it noted that the police might declare the march illegal. In that case, the instructions said, settler leaders would try to negotiate with the police, but if the negotiations fail, "take into account that there will be mass arrests."The instructions also noted that police might try to stop the march even before it began by preventing the marchers from reaching the starting point of Netivot. "If efforts to circumvent or proceed do not succeed, try to block the road, with the goal of [persuading] the police to let the march continue," the instructions said.

But the anger was not all on the settlers' side: Police were equally furious at disengagement opponents, saying that the behavior of those demonstrating at the Kissufim checkpoint on Saturday night against the closure of Gaza was completely unacceptable. The demonstrators, they charged, attacked soldiers and policemen, called them "Judenraat" and "Nazis," and spraypainted swastikas.

At about 5 A.M., after the demonstrators had been dispersed, police also discovered that the road had been strewn with tire spikes and oil.Police said that if such demonstrations recurred, they would use crowd dispersal equipment such as water cannons to deal with the protesters.