New York — A poll of 576 Israelis (including Israeli Arabs) sent out by the Maagar Mochot Survey Institute, a major Israeli polling service, reveals that support for the Gaza Evacuation Plan has dropped to 48% of all Israelis. The poll was reported by Israel’s Channel 2 news. Since other polls have shown that an overwhelming majority of Israeli Arabs support Sharon’s Gaza Plan, one can deduce that less than a third of Jewish Israelis are in favor of it.

The strongest support for the Gaza Plan was in a Maagar Mochot Poll carried out on February 10, 2005 when 65% of all Israelis supported it. This is the lowest level of support yet.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon denounced the poll as a result of “incitement” by anti-withdrawal groups. Minister Ophir Pines and Yitchak Herzog accused the 10,000 Gaza and Northern Samaria Jewish residents slated for forcible removal from their homes with spreading misinformation.

But the fact is that growing numbers of political and military leaders are coming out against the Gaza Plan, saying it will result in yet another Arab terror war against Israel. Leaders opposing the Plan include: General Moshe Ya’alon, outgoing Chief of the IDF; Natan Sharansky, outgoing Israeli Minister; Avi Dichter, outgoing Chief of Shin Bet; Gen. Aharon Farkash, Chief of Military Intelligence; Gen. Yaacov Amidror, former deputy Chief of Military Intelligence; General Shlomo Gazit, former Chief of Military Intelligence; Reuven Rivlin, Speaker of the Knesset; Gideon Saar, Head of Likud faction; Uzi Landau, MK and former Head of Foreign Affairs Committee; Moshe Arens, former Minister of Defense and Foreign Affairs; Benny Begin, former Minister, and many, many others. And in recent weeks, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Silvan Shalom; Minister of Finance, Benjamin Netanyahu; Chairman of Foreign Affairs, Yuval Shtenitz, and Chief of Shin Bet, Yuval Diskin; and others have expressed grave reservations and concerns about Sharon’s Gaza Plan.