About half of the Jewish settlers to be uprooted from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank this summer are in talks with the Israeli government about moving, defying calls by their leaders to oppose the plan at all costs, officials said today.

Nearly all Gaza Strip settlers have agreed to move to Israel as a group following this summer’s withdrawal, a spokesman said today, signalling the collapse of what was once wall-to-wall resistance to the government’s plan to evacuate the coastal area.

Gaza settlers have appointed a team of lawyers to negotiate details of their evacuation from the area this summer, leaders said today.