ISRAEL: Tens of thousands of rightist Israelis flocked to Judaism's holiest shrine yesterday, begging God to stop a government plan to quit the occupied Gaza Strip that has passed almost all political and legal hurdles.
As they prayed, Israel's ceremonial president made a rare national address to ask forgiveness on behalf of the government for its planned evacuation of some 9,000 Jewish settlers from Gaza and a corner of the West Bank, beginning next week.
But President Moshe Katsav urged them not to fight security forces.
"Those who hate Israel are hoping for a rift to divide us," he said in remarks broadcast live on television and radio.
At the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the last vestige of Jewish temples razed in ancient times, 50,000 protesters prayed for the failure of the withdrawal plan.
Leading the worshippers, top sages chanted dirges in penitence over the pull-out. It is seen by ultra-nationalists as betraying Jewish claims on biblical land and rewarding a 4½-year-old armed Palestinian uprising.