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"It's painful," said Rafi, a caterer from the Israeli city of Netanya, who said he has catered events in places where most Israelis fear to go. One of his friends from Homesh, whose wedding he catered, was killed in a terror attack, he said.

On Tuesday, he said he had visited the nearby settlement of Sanur, which is included in the disengagement plan, then drove nearly 200 miles to Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip.

"I think it will probably come to violence, because of the youth, not because of the adults," said Rafi, who was accompanied by his pregnant wife and seven children.

Still he said he's not convinced that the disengagement will take place. "Sharon is afraid," he said, and has already talked about postponing the disengagement for three weeks until after the Jewish fast day of Tisha B'Av in mid-August.

"We came to strengthen the community," said Israel Ben-David, 18, who was sitting with three friends under an olive tree on the sidelines of the event. "I think there will be a miracle [and the disengagement won't take place]," said Ben-David. But if it does, "there will be a civil war."

If need be, he said, he would return to help settlers resist the evacuation and if the police started hitting him, he said he would hit back.

"To my sorrow, it is the police who will begin the violence," said Tamar, 60, one of the early West Bank settlers. She moved to Efrat more than 20 years ago.

Efrat is part of the large settlement bloc of Gush Etzion just outside of Jerusalem. Sharon said in media interviews last week that he came up with the disengagement plan with the intention that Israel would hold onto large settlement blocs in the West Bank (including Gush Etzion) in a final agreement with the Palestinians.

"If they evacuate here, Tel Aviv will also go," said Tamar, who indicated that the evacuation of Homesh would be the beginning of the end of Israel.

Mostly religious

Tamar suggested that secular Israelis didn't show up at the settlement rallies in large numbers because they are "afraid to identify with the image" of the settlers.

Her friend, Yardena, 62, said the settlers "are painted as the enemy of the country," and that's why secular people don't participate in the rallies. Also, secular Israelis are more concerned about "seeking their own quality of life," she said.

But Daniella, a secular Jew and one of the few Israeli women dressed in slacks, said she had come with a group of friends from Tel Aviv to see the place.

"Curiosity. I came to know, to see, to give me something to think about," said Daniella. "It's a beautiful, charming, wonderful place."

Daniella, like many others at the event, said she had visited the Gush Katif settlements in the Gaza Strip earlier in the week. She described herself as "realistic".

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