Quds city, June 28, SPA -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Tuesday sent a stern warning to Jewish settlers opposed to his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, telling them that the use of violence against security forces threatens the existence of Israel. Sharon spoke as the Israeli army opened disciplinary proceedings against a soldier who refused to participate in an operation this week that demolished 11 abandoned homes in a seaside Gaza settlement. During the operation in the Shirat Hayam settlement, young settlers pushed soldiers, cursed and blocked bulldozers _ giving a taste of what could lie ahead during the withdrawal set to begin in August, The Associated Press reported. Sharon said settlers who use violence are a minority among the 9,000 Israelis slated for evacuation from their homes in the Gaza Strip and four small West Bank settlements. "I especially warn against attempts _ by a small lawless, minority ... using violence against the army and other security forces," Sharon said at an annual conference for the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency. He also condemned calls for soldiers to disobey orders to carry out the evacuations. "We all have to remember that the calls to refuse and to disrupt life in Israel endanger the existence of Israel as a Jewish, democratic state," he said.
