(28 Mar 2005)
1. Wide shot, rally
2. Demonstrators
3. Israeli flags waiving
4. Various, Jewish settlers praying
5. Man on stage in front of crowd
6. Settlers dragging uprooted trees (symbolising the uprooting of settlers from their homes)
7. Various, demonstrators holding banners
8. Settlers leaders addressing crowd, pan to crowd
9. Various, crowd
10. Settlers sleeping
11. Close shot, settler reading bible
12. Wide shot, protesters and stage
STORYLINE:
Hundreds of Jewish settlers continued to protest outside Israeli Knesset on Monday after Parliament swept aside another potential obstacle on Monday to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
Israel's parliament easily voted down a bill calling for a national referendum on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza withdrawal plan, rejecting the last-ditch attempt to torpedo the plan and sparking settler threats of civil war.
Approval of a referendum could have brought down Sharon's government and forced new elections.
Sharon's main coalition partner, the moderate Labor Party, had warned it would quit the coalition if a referendum were approved.
Labor is a staunch supporter of the Gaza withdrawal.
With the referendum's failure and the expected approval of the 2005 state budget later this week, the pullout appears to have weathered all legislative threats against it.
Demoralised by the defeat, settlers said they would move their fight into the streets, promising to bring 100-thousand protesters to the settlements slated for evacuation to prevent the withdrawal.
They also pinned their hopes on the Supreme Court, which agreed on Monday to hear a challenge to the pullout.
Approval of a referendum would have almost certainly delayed the withdrawal, scheduled for this summer, and could have brought down
Sharon's government and forced new elections.
Sharon has repeatedly rejected calls for a national vote as a stalling tactic.
Opinion polls show a large majority of Israelis back the Gaza withdrawal.
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