Israelis form human chain to protest Gaza pullout

Israeli protestors formed a 90-km "human chain" between the Gush Katif settlement in Gaza and the Wailing Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem in protest against the government's Gaza withdrawal plan.

"In every sense - in security, democratic, cultural, moral and Jewish terms - the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif would cut a link in Israeli society's spinal cord," organizers of the 70,000-strong rally said.

According to local Ha'aretz daily, the long chain was formed in Israel and shorter ones were to be formed overseas, including in the United States.

Xinhua correspondents witnessed that the demonstrators clasped hands and sang the national anthem, Hatikvah, to vent their patriotic emotions.

Though claimed to be 90-km long, parts of the human chain were broken along the route.

The Israeli government led by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon planned to pull out forces and Jewish settlers from all 21 Gaza Strip settlements and four out of 120 in the West Bank by the end of 2005.

This unilateral disengagement plan drew backlash both fromJewish settlers and within Sharon's ruling Likud party, which forced Sharon to negotiate for a coalition government to push through the plan.

On the Palestinian side, chaos, including kidnappings, demonstrations and attacks, deepened in the run-up to the planned Israeli withdrawal.

Fearing that post-pull back vacuum could lead to chaos in the Gaza Strip, Egypt has offered to send 150 to 200 officers and security experts on a six-month mission to help train a 30,000-strong Palestinian security force.

Source: Xinhua