JERUSALEM, 10 June 2005 — Israel’s highest court yesterday rejected a bid by Jewish settlers to overturn legislation underpinning Israel’s planned withdrawal from Gaza, clearing the last major legal hurdle to a pullout in August.

Ruling in a closely watched case, a High Court panel voted 10-1 to leave largely intact, with only minor technical changes, a parliamentary-approved compensation package for the 9,000 settlers earmarked for evacuation.

Groups of settlers seeking to block any withdrawal from occupied land had filed 12 petitions calling for the “disengagement” law to be invalidated or significantly rewritten on grounds that it violated their human rights.

The court’s rejection of the settlers’ arguments means Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has already overcome all legislative hurdles to implementing the pullout, should be able to push ahead without fear of further legal obstacles.

In another blow to opponents of the withdrawal, a former chief rabbi of Israel, Mordechai Eliyahu, called on soldiers to obey orders to remove settlers and advised evacuees to use passive resistance when the security forces come to the door.

“Many soldiers have asked me what they should do,” the influential rabbi, who opposes the evacuation of settlements from land many settlers claim as a biblical right, told Channel Two television.

“I responded that it’s preferable for believing Jews to go among the houses and (evacuate settlers) while crying, in tears and with a broken heart, than for all kinds of evil people to come and joyously remove settlers and toss them roughly into vehicles,” he said.

Many opponents of the withdrawal say it would reward Palestinian militants fighting Israel. Security officials fear a hard core of settlers could turn violent and that some religious soldiers might disobey orders to carry out the evacuation.

Eliyahu advised settlers: “Recite chapters of Psalms, spill out your heart to our Father in heaven so he will take pity on his children and lift the decree, but don’t help those who come to evacuate you and don’t forcibly oppose them either.”

One settler leader termed the defeat in court the settlers’ “last stand” among Israeli institutions.

The ruling could encourage more settlers to leave voluntarily and accept government compensation ranging from $100,000 to $400,000 per settler family instead of joining hardline brethren threatening to resist evacuation.

But Sharon’s far-right opponents vowed to keep up efforts to derail removal of all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four of 120 enclaves in the West Bank, set to begin in mid-August under his plan to “disengage” from conflict with Palestinians.

“Even under tyranny, people should not give in,” said Benny Elon, an ultranationalist parliamentarian.

The court ruling followed the release of a poll on Wednesday showing Israeli public support for the withdrawal falling to a low point with less than half of the population now in favor.

The survey commissioned by Channel 2 found that 48 percent of Israelis back the pullout, while 33 percent are opposed and the remaining 19 percent undecided.

Commentators have attributed the erosion in support to public weariness with the controversy it has generated among settlers and their allies, who are threatening to step up protests across the Jewish state.

Palestinians welcome any pullout from occupied land but many see Sharon’s plan as a ruse to cement Israel’s hold on large swathes of the West Bank.