Voting has ended in southern Sudan, with analysts predicting that some three million residents have voted to secede from the rest of the country and the capital, Khartoum.
The referendum was held as part of an 2005 agreement brokered by Western nations that ended an ongoing civil war in Sudan.
Initial returns in the week-long referendum are indicating that a large majority of the voters were in favor of establishing a separate state, election observers said.
More than 300 demonstrators stomped, leaped and sang their support for secession one week ago at a rally held in Tel Aviv's Levinsky Park, in the Neve Sha'anan neighborhood.
Nearly all were illegal African immigrants, most of whom were Sudanese migrants, many of whom saying they hoped to eventually return home.