Sharon threatens settlers who oppose withdrawal
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon issued a stern warning to Jewish settlers who try to thwart his planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, saying the government would use all its might to carry out the pullout.
It was the first time Sharon implied he would use a heavy hand against Israeli settlers who resist the pullout, which is set to begin in July, although he stopped short of openly advocating military force.
Sharon made his comments in an address to Israeli soldiers, saying he was disturbed by violent scenes this week of Jewish settlers resisting evacuation from a tiny outpost in the West Bank.
“Those who raise a hand against a soldier or a police officer or a security officer ... we will act against him with all our might,” Sharon told the soldiers.
On Monday, dozens of settlers from the northern West Bank threw rocks and shouted curses at soldiers, and some tried to physically prevent them from knocking down two temporary buildings at the outpost.
Under Sharon’s withdrawal plan, all 8,200 Jewish settlers in Gaza, along with 600 settlers from four West Bank enclaves, are to be uprooted from their homes.
Jewish settlers have threatened to prevent the dismantling of settlements, promising mass resistance, even at the risk of breaking the law. A small number of settlers and rabbis have urged soldiers to disobey the evacuation orders.
Jewish settler leaders warned earlier this week that the army could face mass insubordination during the evacuation.
Sharon described calls to resist orders a “crime against Israeli society.”
“Those who call for defying orders or for forcibly or violently opposing are subversive, mistaken and endanger our actual existence in this place,” he said.
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