TEL AVIV, Israel — Waving balloons and banners and humming along to old antiwar anthems, tens of thousands of Israelis turned out Saturday for one of the biggest peace demonstrations of the 43-month-old conflict with the Palestinians.
The mass march, on the heels of Israel's worst week of combat deaths in the Gaza Strip, was aimed at signaling wide public support for a withdrawal from the seaside territory — and counterbalancing a rebuff of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza pullout plan two weeks ago by his conservative Likud Party.
Police sources estimated that more than 120,000 people attended the rally at a square in Tel Aviv named for assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Organizers put the number at double that and said they hoped the size and enthusiasm of the crowd signaled a resurgence of the Israeli left, which has lain dormant for much of the conflict.
Demonstrators of all ages poured in from across the country, hoisting toddlers on their shoulders, pushing wheelchairs and strollers, sporting dreadlocks and graying ponytails alike. The marchers waited patiently to make their way through security checks at police barricades.
"We have to say goodbye to Gaza," Labor Party leader Shimon Peres told the crowd, to cheers. "This is not a demonstration of the left — it's a demonstration of the majority."
Polls have suggested that nearly three-quarters of Israelis want to relinquish the Jewish settlements of Gaza, where 7,500 Israelis live among more than 1.2 million Palestinians. But the sharp rebuff from his own party in the recent referendum has forced Sharon to spend time regrouping. He insists he will push ahead with the plan's main points.
Although something of a carnival atmosphere prevailed for most of the evening, the rally opened on a solemn note, with a moment of silence for the 13 Israeli soldiers who have died since Tuesday in Gaza.
The deaths were particularly wrenching for Israelis because 11 of the slain soldiers were riding in armored personnel carriers that were blown to pieces, scattering body parts and making it extremely difficult to secure enough remains to hold their funerals.
Many of the demonstrators said the week's surge in violence galvanized them into action. "The atmosphere changed — we just woke up," said Yael Lotan, 47, who has a son serving in the army.
For Palestinians, Saturday marked a bitter occasion: the 56th anniversary of the founding of Israel, an anniversary they commemorate as the "nakba," or catastrophe.
Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, in a speech delivered from his battered West Bank headquarters and broadcast on Palestinian television, called on his compatriots to "terrorize your enemy." Arafat associates swiftly sought to explain the reference as a traditional Quranic verse that did not necessarily constitute a call to arms.
Nearly a week of violence in Gaza trailed off Saturday as Israeli troops pulled out of a volatile strip of territory abutting the Egyptian frontier near the town of Rafah. Palestinians said the Israelis had demolished dozens of homes, leaving hundreds of people homeless.
Contributing: Paul Richter.