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From the top of his 9 Ft barricade turned into one-man Illegal outpost, Arie is making his stand against Sharon disengagement plan.
"I am not a person that stands on the sideline" sais Menashe "I had to choose, there is no middle road here. Either I am on Sharon's side or I am on the other side. This made the choice very easy – who can be on the same side with Sharon ? Not me for sure"
Located on the Gaza beach, just few meters away from an IDF watch tower guarding the settlements, Arieh is building his castle. Two weeks ago he pitched his tent, made of green tarpaulin next to a giant stair case leading no where. The stair case, made of 15 cube concrete blocks 1 meter wide each, used to be a machine gun post guarding the settlement from a sea ward invasion. Since restrictions where imposed on the Palestinian fisherman, nearly five years ago at the start of the Palestinian uprising the gun post was no longer needed but it remained there, just like many other historic "left-over" that are on the beach. Few hundred meters north, next to the settlement of "Shirat Hayam" (Hebrew for "Song of the sea" – an ancient prayer celebrating the victory of the Hebrew on Pharoe's army, which took place not far from here on the shores of the Sinai desert) are several old barracks that were used by the Egyptian army over 37 years, when they ruled the area prior to the 1967 6 day war. 200 meters to the south, are the remains of the old Turkish railroad, build when the Ottoman Empire ruled the area (until being replaced by the British in 1917). It seems every generation leaves foot steps on these sandy shore.
"Oh, don't get me wrong. I am not a violent person" Sais Menashe, "At home, I never kill, even a mosquito. I catch them alive with a small container and set them free outside. I am not vegetarian, but I don't kill. Yesterday a fisherman walked by and gave tow fish, one dead and one alive. So I released the live one and cooked the other."
- So what will you do when the day comes and the army comes to evacuate you ? your "residence", this green tent, is not so hard for them to get into and pull you out ?

A: "As I said, I am not a violent person. But I don't suggest to anyone to mess with me. I am trained in marshal arts. I use to be a medic in the army and I . When people make me angry I can respond very quickly, so quick that even I don't realize what I did until it is over."
- "So What do the locals, how do they treat you?"

A: "With great suspicion. Few days after I settled here, a delegation from Shirat Hayam settlement came to have a word with me. They were headed by a police officer who lives there and demanded that I leave. They said I am violating the settlement by-laws by camping out here, but actually they were afraid I am some kind of a Shabak (Israel's internal Security Secret Service) provocateur or an agent sent to keep an eye on them. So I talked with the soldiers who guard this place and they told me that Shirat Hayam is actually an "Ileagl outpost" and not a recognized settlement. You dig? A police officer, leaving in an Illegal outpost wanted to evacuate me……from my protest tent against Sharon's plan"

For Gaza surfing photos (Gaza surfers face evcuation) see http://www.pbase.com/yalop/gaza_surfers