Settler clashes raise stakes over Gaza plan

JERUSALEM – Jewish settlers clashed Monday with Israeli troops who came to tear down two structures at an unauthorized West Bank outpost, and a soldier was arrested for encouraging comrades to refuse to evacuate the settlement, the army said, in the first case of its kind.

Also Monday, Palestinian militants said Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’s call for an end to rocket attacks on Israel was “a stab in the back of the resistance.”

One soldier was wounded and several settlers were arrested in clashes at the West Bank outpost Mitzpe Yizhar amid increased tensions stemming from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to evacuate settlements in Gaza.

The arrested soldier, a resident of the settlement outpost, was from the same unit that carried out the demolition but was on leave at the time, the army said.

The soldier, in uniform and carrying his rifle, refused to leave one of the structures and called on his comrades to refuse to carry out their orders, the army said.

Settler leaders warned that hundreds of soldiers could refuse to carry out orders to evict Gaza Strip settlers, a sign of the difficulties the army could face in enforcing a withdrawal.

Sharon’s plan to pull out of Gaza and four West Bank settlements has drawn opposition from hard-liners in his government and Jewish settler groups.

Meanwhile, Abbas – front-runner in the Jan. 9 presidential election to replace Yasser Arafat — campaigned in Gaza for a third day, telling supporters that thousands of refugees displaced after Israel’s establishment should be allowed to return to their former homes.

“We will never forget the rights of the refugees, and we will never forget their suffering. They will eventually gain their rights, and the day will come when the refugees return home,” said Abbas, himself a refugee from Safed, now an Israeli city.

On Sunday, Abbas had called on militants to stop firing rockets at Israel. On Monday, Palestinian militant groups including Hamas released a statement demanding Abbas apologize.

Last week, government officials overseeing the pullout were prevented from entering four West Bank settlements slated for evacuation when settlers blocked their bus by lying on the road holding infants to their chests.

On Monday, hundreds of Jewish settlers danced, sang and studied in the rain outside Israel’s parliament in a sit-in protest against the withdrawal.

The demonstrators set up a tent, where they said they would eat, sleep and study for the next three weeks. Some used protest signs to shelter themselves from pouring rain, while others passed out bumper stickers with protest slogans.

The Settlers’ Council has deemed it acceptable to break the law when opposing the evacuation plan but has said it does not support insubordination.