ISRAEL: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday slammed right-wing opponents of his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, saying they were guilty of incitement and their increasingly sharp rhetoric could lead to civil war in Israel writes Peter Hirschberg in Jerusalem.
Mr Sharon, who made his comments at a weekly cabinet meeting, spoke just hours before tens of thousands of Jewish settlers and their supporters gathered in Jerusalem to protest against his plan to evacuate all 21 settlements in Gaza and a further four in the northern West Bank.
"We are witness in recent days to the most grave incitement, and I would say calls that are actually aimed at causing a civil war," the Israeli leader told ministers. "I view this with utmost gravity." In recent days, opponents of the withdrawal plan have stepped up their rhetoric. At the end of last week, a group of prominent right-wing figures signed an open letter calling on soldiers and policemen to disobey orders to evacuate settlements. Over the weekend, settler leaders said they were considering calling on those given the task of carrying out the evacuation to refuse their orders.
At yesterday's meeting, Mr Sharon also spoke of threats against army officers and members of the security establishment. "There may be differences of opinion, but leave the army out of it," he said.
The issue of incitement has been at the heart of public debate in Israel since prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was killed in 1995 by a Jewish extremist bent on wrecking the peace process with the Palestinians. Some political leaders and commentators have said the vitriol now being aimed at Mr Sharon by the right is reminiscent of the atmosphere of incitement that the same circles were responsible for at the time Mr Rabin was assassinated.
In recent days, settler leaders have accused Mr Sharon of disregarding the democratic process - a reference to his decision to press ahead with his withdrawal plan despite it being defeated earlier this year in a referendum in his own Likud party - and at the rally last night some youngsters carried posters calling the prime minister a "traitor".
A far-right deputy, Mr Arye Eldad, dismissed Mr Sharon's criticism: "The key to civil war is in the prime minister's hands, and if it does break out, he will be remembered in Israel as the one who caused it," he said.
Security officials have outlined two major fears - an assassination attempt on Mr Sharon or an attack by Jewish extremists on one of the mosques on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
A senior official on a visit to Israel intimated yesterday the US might pursue sanctions against Iran if it did not dismantle its nuclear weapons programme. Undersecretary of State John Bolton said the US was "determined" to ensure that Tehran did not "achieve a nuclear-weapons capability". Iran rejected a European demand to dismantle its uranium programme, but said it was ready to give guarantees not to produce nuclear weapons.