Thousands Protest Gaza and West-Bank Disengagement

Nearly 100, 000 protestors, mostly Orthodox Jews, gathered in downtown Jerusalem's Zion Square on Sunday night in opposition to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.

Leaders of the Yesha Council of West Bank and Gaza Settlements and settlers from Gush Katif organized the rally. Gathering under the slogan 'Disengagement is Tearing the Nation Apart,' protestors carried banners with Sharon's photograph that read, 'Dictator' and 'I Don't give a Damn about Anyone.'

At a cabinet meeting held earlier, Sharon called for an end to incitement against Israel Defense Forces. 'I see this as extremely dire,' Sharon said. 'I find these threats on IDF officers and members of the security establishment to be a severe offense.” The Prime Minister strongly condemned settlement leaders who he believes are behind the incitement. 'There may be differences of opinion, but leave the security establishment out of it. Leave the army out of it, you can't incite against them or threaten them,' he said.

Sharon also directed criticism at the ministers, saying, “unfortunately, these views are not only being voiced by the settlers. I expect ministers in the government to be heard. This phenomenon must stop.'

Rejecting the Premier’s accusations, National Union MK Aryeh Eldad, said, 'the key to civil war is in the prime minister's hands and if it does break out, he will be remembered in the history of the nation of Israel as the one who caused it.'

Sharon has increasingly come under attack from settlers who traditionally comprise his constituency. On Friday, settler leaders charged that Sharon had no authorization to withdraw from the territories, calling the plan a “Nazi Act.”