An estimated 30,000 visitors and residents of Yamit in Sinai spent the Simchat Torah holiday last night dancing through the streets of the town with Torah scrolls to protest the planned evacuation of the region by next April.
Observers said that many of the holiday visitors appear to have remained in Yamit and nearby villages, joining ultra-nationalist elements who hope to increase the population which will refuse army orders to move away before the evacuation date.
New residents in Yamit include Knesset members Geula Cohen and Hanan Porot of the Tehiya Party which opposes the evacuation, and Rabbi Haim Druckman of the National Religious Party. All three have said they hope their demonstrative presence will strengthen the resolve of those residents and other nationalist newcomers to resist government orders to move away.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
