Israeli army chief warns dissenters

RESPONDING to growing threats of insubordination, Israel's army chief announced yesterday he'll expel officers and soldiers who refuse to participate in a planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.

The warning by Lt General Moshe Yaalon came after 34 reserve officers wrote to their commander that the Gaza withdrawal, along with the dismantling of Jewish settlements, is illegal and that soldiers must not participate in it.

Despite the growing protests, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon consolidated a pro-pullback coalition by signing up a small ultra-Orthodox Jewish party.

Also yesterday, Palestinian presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas reached out to Israel, following a series of hard-line speeches and campaign appearances with Palestinian gunmen in recent days.

Mr Abbas told the Israeli daily, Maariv, that his first order of business after next week's election is to seek a renewal of peace talks and to start cleaning up the Palestinian security forces. "We will begin a dialogue with the Israeli side to see if there is willingness to renew the process," he said.

The Israeli reserve officers, meanwhile, wrote that the planned withdrawal "is totally illegal" and that soldiers must not participate in it. The officers belong to a West Bank brigade that is largely made up of Jewish settlers.

The letter is the latest sign that widespread insubordination could accompany the Gaza pullout. Jewish settler leaders have warned that hundreds, and possibly thousands, of soldiers could refuse orders to dismantle settlements.

Lt Colonel Yitzhak Shadmi, one of the officers who signed the letter, said the officers were asking the army not to involve them in the withdrawal. In an interview with Army Radio, he was evasive when asked whether he would refuse orders if the army did not comply. He said thousands of soldiers identify with his views.

In response, Lt Gen Yaalon summoned the officers for questioning.

"Any officer who continues to express the views stated in the letter will be dismissed from his duty and expelled from the Israel Defence Forces," he said in a statement.

Mr Sharon warned that the government would act with "all its might" against military dissenters and hard-line protesters who attack soldiers.

His comments were prompted by a confrontation earlier this week between settlers and soldiers trying to dismantle an unauthorised West Bank settlement outpost.