A number of the visitors held up orange paper signs that said: "Gush Katif, we are with you" and "If Gaza is first, is Jerusalem next?" They also brought with them a Torah Scroll that they plan to donate to Gush Katif.

Speaking to reporters at the airport, Eitam said he was repeating the line he used at Sunday's anti-disengagement rally in Central Park. "Read my lips, there will be no disengagement," he said.

Hikind, even before anyone asked him if Jews from abroad had a right to come to Israel to take a political stand, said no one had complained when Reform rabbis spoke out on the issue of "who is a Jew."

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had traveled to the United States to drum up opposition to the Oslo Accords, Hikind said.

Civil disobedience was the price to be paid for democracy, he added.

Pastor Jim Vineyard of Oklahoma said Christians who supported Israel were the "spiritual seed" of Abraham.

Wearing an orange T-shirt underneath his jacket, Sampson said he was proud to be in Israel "in solidarity with my brothers and sisters [in Gush Katif]. I want to let them know that we stand with them. When you talk about throwing individuals from their home, that is not right. It's a humanitarian issue."

Sampson said the Gush Katif settlers had spent 20 to 30 years building the foundation of their lives and had to be treated with dignity and respect. "We have to tell them, 'We understand your pain, you are not alone," he said.