JERUSALEM, 4 January 2005 — Jewish settler leaders warned yesterday that hundreds, and possibly thousands, of soldiers could refuse to carry out orders to evict Gaza Strip settlers, a sign of the difficulties the army could face in carrying out the withdrawal.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to pull out of Gaza and four West Bank settlements has drawn stiff opposition from hard-liners in his own government and Jewish settlers.
At a meeting late Sunday, settler leaders told the army’s top brass to prepare for the possibility of mass insubordination during the evacuation, adding that they were powerless to stop it.
“I have to be honest with the heads of the army about where the implementation of this draconian law will lead,” settler leader Pinchas Wallerstein told Army Radio yesterday. “If there will be dozens, or hundreds, or thousands of insubordinates, it will take the state of Israel decades to rehabilitate its society.”
Opinion polls show most Israelis support the plan to evacuate 8,200 Gaza Strip and 600 West Bank settlers. But many of the 230,000 Jewish settlers, led by religious ideologues who believe the West Bank and Gaza are the biblical birthright of the Jewish people, are strongly opposed.
With political efforts to sink the withdrawal foundering, opponents have turned to other means to scuttle the plan.
Last week, government officials overseeing the pullout were prevented from entering four West Bank settlements slated for evacuation when settlers blocked their bus by lying on the road holding infants to their chests.
Yesterday, hundreds of Jewish settlers danced, sang and studied in the rain outside Israel’s parliament in a sit-in protest against the withdrawal.
The demonstrators set up a tent, where they said they would eat, sleep and study for the next three weeks. Some used protest signs to shelter themselves from pouring rain, while others passed out bumper stickers with protest slogans.
The Palestinians “want to get rid of Israel and this is the first step for them,” said Amy Rosenbluh, 53, a Jewish settler who immigrated from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The Settlers’ Council has deemed it acceptable to break the law when opposing the evacuation plan, but has said it does not support insubordination.
Some settler rabbis — who have great influence among religious settlers — have called on their followers who serve in the army to refuse to carry out any evacuation orders.
Israeli forces made a dozen arrests yesterday as they came under attack from stone-throwers while trying to dismantle an unauthorized settlement outpost near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
A border policeman was slightly injured as the authorities tried to dismantle the Mitzpeh Yitzhar outpost which consists of two mobile homes, security sources said. Two of those arrested were minors.
As part of its commitments under the internationally backed peace roadmap, Israel is required to dismantle all of the wildcat outposts dotted across the West Bank.
Israeli authorities claim that 28 of the outposts are still in existence although the settlement watchdog Peace Now says the real figure is more than three times that number.
The outposts are generally set up as makeshift settlements with caravans but are often later “legalized” by the authorities.
The international community considers all Jewish settlements in the occupied territories illegal.
Israeli officials have expressed concern about possible insubordination, especially with settlers filling prominent roles in the army’s officers corps.
