ADVANCING THE ISSUE: WITHDRAWAL FROM GAZA STRIP - Daily Press
Teens and preteens risk arrest to demonstrate for what they believe -- that Israel shouldn't leave.
At a recent demonstration, Ernstoff and a dozen other teenage girls blocked a busy Jerusalem intersection, linking arms and planting themselves in the path of oncoming traffic. Together, they shrieked the main anti-pullout slogan -- "Jews don't expel Jews!" -- at police officers who tried to herd them out of the road.
At one point in the melee, Ernstoff fell or was wrestled to the ground; at another, she ran from officers who had told her she was under arrest. Ilan Franco, the Jerusalem police chief, sighed resignedly and waved his men off from pursuit. "Let her go," he said.
Like other young protesters, Ernstoff has faith that the withdrawal can still be prevented.
"We're just not going to let it happen. God gave us this land, and it's ours, for always," she said at her home in the West Bank settlement of Tekoa, a sun-blasted enclave in the rocky hills south of Jerusalem. The family moved to Tekoa eight years ago, soon after moving to Israel from the United States.
Matti's mother, Sara-Rivka Ernstoff, said that whenever her daughter failed to return home after a demonstration, she assumed the girl had been arrested, and also knew that Matti had probably refused to identify herself or asked to make a call home. She has never tried to dissuade her from such actions.
"Of course I worry like any mother would, but I really don't lose sleep when she's in jail," she said. "She's old enough to make her own choices." *
ADVANCING THE ISSUE: WITHDRAWAL FROM GAZA STRIP - Daily Press
Teens and preteens risk arrest to demonstrate for what they believe -- that Israel shouldn't leave.
At a recent demonstration, Ernstoff and a dozen other teenage girls blocked a busy Jerusalem intersection, linking arms and planting themselves in the path of oncoming traffic. Together, they shrieked the main anti-pullout slogan -- "Jews don't expel Jews!" -- at police officers who tried to herd them out of the road.
At one point in the melee, Ernstoff fell or was wrestled to the ground; at another, she ran from officers who had told her she was under arrest. Ilan Franco, the Jerusalem police chief, sighed resignedly and waved his men off from pursuit. "Let her go," he said.
Like other young protesters, Ernstoff has faith that 
the withdrawal can still be prevented.
"We're just not going to let it happen. God gave us this land, and it's ours, for always," she said at her home in the West Bank settlement of Tekoa, a sun-blasted enclave in the rocky hills south of Jerusalem. The family moved to Tekoa eight years ago, soon after moving to Israel from the United States.
Matti's mother, Sara-Rivka Ernstoff, said that whenever her daughter failed to return home after a demonstration, she assumed the girl had been arrested, and also knew that Matti had probably refused to identify herself or asked to make a call home. She has never tried to dissuade her from such actions.
"Of course I worry like any mother would, but I really don't lose sleep when she's in jail," she said. "She's old enough to make her own choices." *