Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon today sent a stern warning to Jewish settlers opposed to the Gaza pullout plan, telling them the use of violence against security forces threatened the existence of Israel.
Mr Sharon said settlers who used violence - like those who skirmished with Israeli soldiers this week when eleven abandoned homes in a Gaza settlement were demolished - were a minority among the 9,000 due for evacuation this summer.
He also condemned calls for soldiers to refuse orders to evacuate settlers in August under a plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements.
"We all have to remember the calls to refuse and to disrupt life in Israel endanger the existence of Israel as a Jewish, democratic state," Mr Sharon said at an annual conference for the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency.
AP