NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip - Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) said Monday they were preparing to move 500 families to the area in an effort to thwart a plan by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) to evacuate most settlements in the region.

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Sharon announced last month that he would implement a "disengagement plan" to dismantle 17 settlements in the Gaza Strip and three in the West Bank if Israel and the Palestinians could not proceed on the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan.

Settlers and their backers in the parliament have vowed to oppose Sharon's plan and topple his government if he begins implementing it.

The 500 families will begin moving in the coming weeks to a tiny coastal settlement called Shirat Hayam and to youth hostels in existing settlements, said Eyal Sternberg, a spokesman for the Gaza settlers.

Twenty families have recently received tenders to build houses in the settlement of Neve Dekalim, Sternberg said.

About 7,800 settlers live in the Gaza Strip, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.

Hundreds of Israelis participated Sunday in a ceremony to plant 3,000 trees in the Gush Katif block of settlements in the Gaza Strip to demonstrate their opposition to Sharon's plan.

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