JERUSALEM, 21 December 2004 — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday that the threat of civil disobedience by Jewish settlers would not derail his plan to withdraw all Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip by the end of 2005.

“The disengagement will be carried out according to the timetable that has been determined by the government and approved by the Knesset,” Sharon told journalists after a meeting with Israeli President Moshe Katsav.

Prominent settler Pinhas Wallerstein called Sunday for those affected by the pullout to break through army roadblocks and barricade themselves in their homes, even if it means going to jail.

“I see these (Wallerstein’s) remarks as harsh. I have known Pinhas for many years, I don’t think that this is his way,” Sharon said.

“I understand the pain, developments are painful for me too, but they are necessary. I am certain that we will do everything in order to uphold the law,” he added.

Wallerstein is chairman of the influential Yesha settlers’ council which was meeting yesterday to decide whether to give its first formal backing to his campaign of active opposition to the pullout.

The controversial Gaza plan has been fiercely opposed by many of Sharon’s traditional supporters, leading to the crumbling of his coalition and leaving him without a parliamentary majority for the last six months.

But Sharon has now all but signed a deal with the opposition Labor party that would give him the political backing necessary to see through the evacuation of 8,000 settlers from all 21 settlements in Gaza and four isolated enclaves in the northern West Bank.

The Yesha council was meeting as Sharon’s right-wing Likud tried to wrap up a deal with Labor to form a national unity government, expected to include eight ministers from the center-left party.

Talks have hitched on a final snag involving Labor leader Shimon Peres, slated to become a second deputy prime minister.

Labor wants Peres to be authorized to function as acting premier when Sharon is away or incapacitated but Israeli law only allows for one such post, currently held by Likud’s Ehud Olmert.

A deal was expected to be signed as soon as legal changes were made or an alternative solution found.

Wallerstein’s appeal came in the form of a letter sent round the settlements calling for active opposition to the withdrawal process.

“The public should violate the transfer law en masse and be ready to pay the price of mass imprisonment,” the letter said.

He was referring to a bill which has passed its first reading in the Israeli Parliament and aims to regulate the evacuation of the settlements.

It establishes compensation sums for settlers and punishments — hefty fines or imprisonment — that the Israeli government will be able to mete out to those failing to obey the law. The appeal met with angry reactions from Peace Now, the Israeli settlement watchdog, and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz was reportedly considering the possibility of opening a criminal investigation against Wallerstein.

Meanwhile at a peace conference in Gaza, sponsors of the internationally-backed roadmap peace plan insisted that the pullout scheme must not replace a more comprehensive settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian problem.