Rabbis aligned with the Jewish settlement movement held a highly charged rally here in Jerusalem to protest the government’s plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip this summer. The plan calls for dismantling 21 settlements in Gaza and four more in Samaria. The rabbis compared the removal of 9,000 Jews from their homes to the Holocaust, and some wore sackcloth in a Biblical symbol of mourning. Participants held balloons with these words: "In each settlement there are more arms, ammunition and weapons-trained men than there were in the Warsaw Ghetto." It was a clear suggestion that settlers should emulate the Jews who rose up against the Nazis during World War II and use their weapons to resist evacuation.