Israel’s parliament on Tuesday voted to back Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to close all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and evacuate the 8,100 residents living there. But the vote split Sharon’s own Likud Party and most of Sharon’s traditional allies in ultranationalist and religious parties voted against the measure. Four of Sharon’s ministers, including Binyamin Netanyahu, have threatened to resign if the government does not put the Gaza decision up for a national referendum. Thousands of settlers traveled to Jerusalem to protest the vote. According to the Washington Post, Ultra-Orthodox rabbis have called on soldiers to disobey orders to evacuate settlements while political leaders have warned that such evacuations could take Israel to the brink of civil war.