AP

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip
0817mideast Israeli troops stormed the main synagogue of this Jewish settlement Thursday, one of the last bastions of resistance to the Gaza pullout, to remove about 1,500 protesters inside.
The protesters, who vowed not to leave after repeated warnings by police, locked arms and legs while lying on the floor, making it extremely difficult for the soldiers to carry them away. They grabbed at soldiers trying to remove their comrades, threw water and plastic bottles at them, and chanted, “Jews don’t expel Jews!”
Some of the protesters had their arms wrapped in leather tefilin prayer boxes. Rabbis in the crowd wore orange vests identifying them as clergy.