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A protester was removed from the Senate gallery Monday for yelling at lawmakers after they approved a resolution expressing support for Israel in its fight against Palestinian militants, as well as for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

But the real fireworks were still to come. The spark that lit the Senate's flame was freshman Sen. Linda Newell's "no" vote on the Israel resolution, one of two cast against it.

"I voted no," Newell, D-Littleton, explained later, "because I was elected to do the state's business. I believe resolutions like this take us away from that."

Earlier in the day, however, the Senate voted 29-5 in favor of a resolution "Concerning a Season of Nonviolence" offered by Newell that commemorates Mohandas Gandhi and the Rev.