NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip - Tens of thousands of Israelis took part Wednesday in one of the largest gatherings in the Gaza Strip to protest the planned pullout of troops and settlers from the territory.
Organisers said around 40,000 -- less than half those expected -- trouped out in solidarity for the Jewish residents of Gaza during what should be their last Passover holiday in the strip of Palestinian land occupied by Israel since 1967.
A massive security operation was launched both inside and outside Gaza to ensure that the protest passed off without incident. However, one soldier was slightly wounded by a suspected Palestinian militant mortar round.
With the border into the south of the territory closed to private vehicles, hundreds of buses were hired to ferry demonstrators to the site of the protest, which began in the largest settlement of Neve Dekalim.
Protestors then marched to the Mediterranean coast, where they listened to rabble-rousing speeches from nationalist politicians and rock band performances.
"I am convinced that one year from now, we will still be here," shouted Avner Shimoni, president of Gush Katif regional council.
Among the others who addressed the crowd was MP Effi Eitam, who left Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon`s cabinet last year to protest the pullout.
He urged the sea of people to mobilise, rucksacks in hand, to Gush Katif on the first day of the planned pullout in a bid to block the withdrawal.
Avi Elisha said he had travelled to Gaza with his wife and two children from their home in Jerusalem to show solidarity with the settlers.
"It is our first visit to the Gaza Strip but we feel sick to the heart over the idea of being separated from what is our right. It is so beautiful here," he added.
Many others had travelled from the West Bank where the vast majority of the 245,000 Israeli settlers live.
Sharon has vowed to uproot all 8,000 settlers living in Gaza in an operation that should start in either July or August.
The prime minister in turn hopes to relieve international pressure for a more comprehensive Israeli pullout from the West Bank.
While Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas has vowed to ensure that the pullout takes place in a calm atmosphere, the Israeli army fears militant groups will try to up their level of attacks in a bid to portray the withdrawal as an act of surrender.
The army said that despite a pledge by militants to observe a ceasefire until the end of the year there had been a "significant increase in terrorist attacks against Israeli communities and civilians inside and outside the Gaza Strip".
"This increase constitutes a blatant contravention of the ceasefire agreement," security sources were quoted as saying in a statement.
Despite a sharp drop in militant attacks throughout Israel and the Palestinian territories, an Israeli soldier was wounded by shrapnel after a shell exploded close to the Neve Dekalim march.
The Gaza pullout should figure prominently in talks between Sharon and Vladimir Putin on Thursday during what will be the first ever visit by a Russian leader to Israel.
Putin was expected to arrive later on Wednesday after talks in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who has been playing a key liaison role between Israelis and Palestinians over the exit from Gaza.
Speaking in the Egyptian capital, Putin said Russia planned to organize an international conference later this year in a bid to advance the peace process.
"We propose the convening of an international conference in Moscow next autumn with the participation of all concerned parties and the quartet," he said.
The so-called diplomatic quartet, grouping Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations, drafted a peace plan known as the roadmap, which calls for a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.
It has made little progress since its launch two years ago.
04/27/2005 15:19 GMT