Settler reaction to the expected Gaza pullout delay was bitter. "The date doesn't matter to us,” settlement leader Pinchas Wallerstein said Army Radio. “Our goal is to prevent the withdrawal.” He added that carrying out the evacuation during the mourning period for the Temples is preferable since it is a national disaster. “Maybe Tisha B'Av is appropriate,” Wallerstein said. “If you want to bring destruction on the nation of Israel maybe it is appropriate to do it on a date known for destruction."