Evicted Gaza settlers see divine retribution for Sharon

And other hardliners even said he had fallen under the spell of a death curse they put on him last summer.

"The Torah says that whoever touches the land of Israel gets his punishment. Everything is from God," said Koby Zohar, a 30-year-old teacher, standing outside a four-star Jerusalem hotel that is his temporary home.

Along with his wife and four children, Zohar was forced out of his home in the Gaza Strip last summer. The Israeli state is paying for their sojourn in the Shalom Hotel until new permanent housing is ready.

Although Sharon masterminded Israel's settlement policy, it was he who decided to dismantle 25 of them last year, mostly in the Gaza Strip, after a 38-year occupation.