JERUSALEM, 6 January 2005 — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday settler calls on soldiers to refuse to remove them from occupied land were a threat to Israel’s existence and he would explore tougher measures against those who made them.

Settlers say thousands of soldiers could resist Sharon’s plan to evacuate Jews from the Gaza Strip this year. Fears have been sharpened by clashes this week over the removal of unauthorized settler homes in the West Bank.

Speaking to more than 100 soldiers who faced settler violence while dismantling two illegal homes at the Yitzhar settlement, Sharon said settler calls to them to refuse orders to remove them “is a crime against Israeli society.

“Whoever calls to refuse or to resist violently is making a mistake that endangers our very existence in this place...and which can create an historic rift in the Jewish world,” Sharon, a former general, said at an army base in Jerusalem.

An Israeli soldier faces a court martial for urging other soldiers to defy orders to dismantle the buildings at Yitzhar.

“There will be no compromise. Whoever lifts a hand against security forces, whoever threatens them, we will act with full force against them,” Sharon said.

He said he would meet justice officials in coming days to see if changes could be made in the law to punish people behind calls for disobedience or incitement to violence.

“We hope to see a change in legal measures available,” to punish settlers who assault soldiers, he said.

Referring to rightists who reject his Gaza pullout plan, Sharon said: “Leave the army out of it. If you want to protest, protest against me. If you want to slur someone, slur me.”

The mainstream settler movement has said it will support only non-violent protests, but Israel’s internal security chief said on Tuesday that ultra-nationalist hard-liners could try to provoke shooting at soldiers.

Sharon said the soldiers’ ability to quell settler rebellion now would give them strength to do so later this year when Israel dismantles 21 settlements in Gaza.

He urged the troops to be firmer and to ensure that illegal settlement buildings they take down are not rebuilt within a short period, as frequently occurs.

“If they put up any structures illegally, we shouldn’t negotiate with anyone, just take them down immediately.”

Some officers complained to Sharon they were suffering from growing abuse from settlers. A commander of a company protecting the Yitzhar settlement said his tires had been punctured and stones thrown at his troops.

Israel Jails Soldier for

Pro-Settler Disobedience

Israel jailed a soldier for 28 days yesterday for urging comrades to refuse orders to remove a Jewish settler outpost, which raised fears of revolt in the ranks over Sharon’s Gaza withdrawal plan.

Military sources said a court-martial sentenced Yosef Filant, an off-duty sergeant arrested during scuffles at Mitzpe Yitzhar settlement outpost on Monday, to the month-long term in the stockade for conduct unbecoming a soldier.

Israeli forces demolished the unauthorized caravan outpost. Israeli media described Filant as a religious Jew with rightist views and quoted his lawyer as saying he would appeal against the sentence to the High Court of Justice.

Most Israelis support Sharon’s plan to remove 8,000 settlers from Gaza, where they live in enclaves among 1.3 million Palestinians, and from four of 120 West Bank settlements. Many settlers see the territories captured in the 1967 Middle East war as an integral part of Israel, while Palestinians want them for an independent state.