ISRAELI security forces tried yesterday to halt in their tracks tens of thousands of settlers opposed to a Gaza pullout who mounted the largest Jewish gesture of civil disobedience in the history of the country.

The tensions between the two sides, which had resulted in scores of arrests after they came to blows, eased as darkness fell and the settlers, many pushing children in prams, relaxed with the recognition that, at least for the moment, they were going no further on their planned march to the Jewish settlements.

The gates of Kfar Maimon were locked, but settlers — defying a ban on the march — had passed unhindered through broken gaps in the perimeter fence, many of them equipped with tents for a second night under the stars.

Security forces across Israel were on the highest level of alert, short of war, to ensure that the settlers were thwarted in their goal of reaching the Gush Katif settlements, where 9,000 of them are already digging in to defy the withdrawal. The paradox of Jews confronting Jews was mirrored by internecine Palestinian strife just ten miles away.

An Israeli drone buzzed overhead, watching both the settlers’ protest and the factional fighting inside Gaza.

A public address system on a van parked near the gates of Kfar Maimon blared out music as stalls serving hot food emphasised the settlers’ belief that they could outstay the soldiers and police who once again linked arms to prevent a breakout in the darkness.

Shaul Goldstein, a leader of the settlers’ Yesha Council, who claimed to have been punched during an earlier fracas, said that the settlers were ready for the long haul. “We know that we’re surrounded and that if our thousands of people try to go outside it would mean violence,” he said. “We simply can’t control that many people, so we’re staying. We will keep a close eye on the situation and perhaps there will be a moment to take our chance. But for now we will stay here tonight, tomorrow night or however long it takes.”

Simply by arriving at the site they had defeated police efforts to stifle the protest by barring demonstrators from boarding more than 1,000 chartered coaches.

During the afternoon several hundred chanting and angry young radical settlers attempted to leave through the main gate of the community but were repulsed by unarmed police and troops in a bout of shoving and scuffling. Police on horseback were moved to reinforce the ten-deep ranks of officers and several water cannon were pulled into a threatening position, while a surveillance helicopter and a balloon with a high-powered camera ordinarily used to spy on Palestinians hung overhead.

The conclusion of the march was timed to coincide with a vote in the Knesset today on postponing the pullout from the 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank.

At one stage police with loudhailers attempted to persuade the demonstrators that Kfar Maimon was the end of the road and that buses would be arriving to take them back to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. But there was little sign of movement and it seemed that the thousands of police and troops ringing the fence around the irrigated fields and greenhouses, might have to settle in for a siege. Security chiefs seemed determined that the settlers should go no further towards the Gaza settlements.

Gideon Ezra, the Internal Security Minister, who negotiated the deal permitting the first stage of the march, said that the Government’s greatest concern was that the tens of thousands of marchers would break through into Gush Katif to join the 9,000 settlers there and complicate the withdrawal due to start on August 17. “The issue that most concerns us is that we see that no one will reach Gush Katif,” Mr Ezra said. “That is the goal.”

At regular intervals religious Jewish men stood in lines praying. The ultra-Orthodox among them donned tfielin — a tape wound around arm and head, holding in place a small black box on the forehead. The box contains verses from the Torah and the tape is wound in a way to spell out the acronym Shadai, one of the many names for God. The tape, close to brain and heart, symbolises their connection to God.

Yet among the less religious settlers there was still utter conviction that they would somehow have their way and overcome the forces that Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister, had ranged against them.

“It is our right to protest the undemocratic act of a Government that has done a U-turn,” said Chaviva Braun, 40, an occupational therapist from the West Bank settlement of Karnei Shomron. “We are fighting for our God-given right to stay in our country.”

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