Thousands of Israeli ultranationalists rallied on Tuesday against a Gaza pullout as police deployed in force to block any attempt to march across the nearby frontier into Jewish settlements due to be evacuated.
The demonstration in Sderot, an Israeli town that has been a target of Palestinian rocket attacks, could be a final show of resolve before a withdrawal, just two weeks away, which the protesters see as betrayal of Jewish claims on biblical land.
"All of the land is ours," read one banner amid a crowd comprised almost entirely of religious Jews dressed in orange, the colour adopted by opponents of the first uprooting of Israeli settlements from land Palestinians want for a state.
Under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to "disengage" from Gaza, a narrow strip of occupied territory he says Israel has no chance of keeping in any future peace deal, security forces are to begin evacuating 21 settlements on August 17.
Settler leaders said thousands of protesters at the Sderot rally would march to the Gaza frontier on Wednesday after spending Tuesday night out of Palestinian rocket range in another Israeli town, Ofakim, 20 km (12 miles) from the border.
"Tomorrow night (Wednesday) we will resume the march, to Gush Katif," settler leader Zviki Bar-Hai said, referring to a bloc of settlements in Gaza. "We will do so with determination, but non-violently."
Security officials said a buffer force of 15,000 police and soldiers was in place to challenge any attempt to enter Gaza.
"We won't allow them into Gush Katif," local police commander Effi Mor told reporters.
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