Anti-Expulsion Rally Shakes Tel Aviv.

By VOA News, IsraelNationalNews.com & Ynetnews.com

The huge rally in Tel Aviv against the expulsion plan ended Thursday evening, as more than 300,000 people found their way to thousands of buses that brought them to Rabin Square. It was one of the largest rallies ever in Israel.

Peace Now leader Yariv Oppenheimer warned that the rally was "more dangerous than protests that preceded the assassination" of Yitzhak Rabin. He warned that blocking roads to and from Gush Katif next week would cause bloodshed in confrontations with police and soldiers.

"Monday, everyone is heading south - on foot, by car - by any way possible. We will block the roads into Gush Katif with our bodies," Yesha Council logistical director Tzviki Bar-Chai told the crowd. Video available at mms://msmedia.a7.org/arutz7/heb-video/05/web/demo.wmv

"Just like we came to Kfar Maimon, to Sderot and to Ofakim - all of us - every one of us - will be there on Monday, saying we will not move from here. Beatings from Yassamnikim (riot police), the horses of the police and the water cannons of the IDF will not stop us. We will be there!"

Earlier Thursday, orange ribbons lined Tel Aviv's bohemian Shenkin Street as anti-expulsion activists painted the town orange - the color of the anti-retreat movement.

Groups of teenage activists could be heard marching down the main thoroughfares singing, "Everybody knows that Tel Aviv is orange" to the tune of the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine. "A tent city was erected in the park opposite the Tel Aviv's main train station.

As evening fell, the giant Rabin Square, formerly known as Kings of Israel Square was filled as hundreds of thousands of Jews from Tel Aviv and all over Israel poured into the main plaza from all directions. Side streets were packed with protesters in every direction. Rabbi Yigal Kaminetsky, rabbi of Gush Katif, told those gathered, "Nothing is sealed, in a moment, with the help of Heaven, things can turn for the good - that is the story of the Jewish people throughout history.

But Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is determined to implement the withdrawal despite months of protests. On Monday, the army will deliver evacuation orders to the settlers warning them that their presence in Gaza is illegal and they have 48 hours to move out. Beginning on Wednesday, those who refuse to leave will be removed by force. More than 9,000 Israelis will be evacuated from 21 settlements in Gaza, along with four more in the West Bank.

In an apparent attempt to give a boost to the embattled Israeli leader, President Bush spoke out in support of the Gaza pullout. "I believe the decision that Prime Minister Sharon has made and is going to follow through on will be good for Israel." Israel Television interviewed Bush at his ranch in Texas. "I think in the long run, two states living side by side in peace is the ultimate solution for Israel's security," he added. But opponents of the pullout believe just the opposite. They expect Gaza to become a terrorist entity committed to the annihilation of the state of Israel.

A separate Jewish state in Gaza? Anti-pullout leader Arieh Itzhaky and a group of residents of the settlement of Kfar Yam are planning to declare the establishment of the "Gaza Region Jewish Authority" on Sunday.

Residents of Kfar Yam, one of 21 Jewish communities in Gaza that the government plans to dismantle this month, are setting up an independent "Jewish Authority." Arieh Itzhaky said his group would ask the Israeli government for rifles for defense. "I premise the establishment of the new sovereign authority on international law." Elections for a parliament will be held in three weeks, he added.