Settlers promise fierce resistance

Tuesday, March 29, 2005 |

Jewish settlers are promising fierce resistance after the Knesset (parliament) rejected a bill calling for a referendum on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip this summer. “We shall call hundreds of thousands of Israelis to the streets to vote with their feet…and prove that there is no majority among the Israeli people for this horrible plan,” said right-wing parliamentarian Effi Eitam. The settlers demanded a referendum since Sharon did not run for office on a platform of dismantling 21 Gaza settlements. They helped elect Sharon, and now they feel betrayed. The Yesha Settlement Council warned of a "violent confrontation and civil war."