Israel: Leading figures in the settler camp suggested yesterday they were ready to reach a deal with the army where all the weapons of those to be evacuated under the prime minister's disengagement plan would be collected.
The army and police would agree to be unarmed when they carried out the evacuation.
A day after parliament voted in favour of the 2005 state budget, effectively removing the last legislative obstacle to a withdrawal from all 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the northern West Bank, a leading ultra-nationalist lawmaker proposed that settlers hand over their guns to head off any possibility of deadly confrontations with troops.
Effi Eitam said soldiers should also agree not to carry guns. "Then we will also ask the settler community to freely give up their weapons several days before [ withdrawal] so that all of us can enter this struggle with clean hands, and that it will be limited to what can be done democratically," he said.
Mr Eitam's acknowledgement of the potential for violence adds to already existing fears that a small number of extremists might resort to desperate acts in an attempt to prevent the pull-out, which is planned to begin in late July. Security officials have also warned of a possible attempt on the life of Ariel Sharon or an attack on a major religious site in Jerusalem such as al-Aqsa Mosque.
There has also been talk between settler leaders and the army about the handing over of extremists by settlers to the security forces, and the setting up of a channel for dialogue between the heads of the anti-withdrawal camp and the military commanders in charge of the pull-out.