Sharon defiant despite threat of civil war

Facing the threat of civil war from Jewish settlers, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said today nothing would deter him from pushing forward with a parliamentary vote on his plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.

Sharon, a long-time patron of the settlements, spoke a day after holding a tense meeting with settler leaders that ended with battle lines drawn between the two sides.

The premier has pledged to put his "disengagement plan" to a parliamentary vote on October 25 and, despite a rift in his hard-line Likud Party, he is expected to prevail with the backing of dovish opposition parties. The settlers were demanding a national referendum on the plan.

Sharon said today that he is required to bring his plan to parliament and he intends to follow through, despite pressure from the settlers to hold a referendum.

He held a tense meeting of Likud MPs, many of whom urged him to give in and hold the referendum. Participants said the meeting was painful and heavy.

"I think in the end the prime minister will get the hint that in order to maintain coalition stability and in order to prevent a split among the public, the only solution is a national referendum," said MP Gila Gamliel.

Settler leaders called their meeting with their former ally "disgraceful" and pressed for a national referendum, while pledging to torpedo the withdrawal.

They accused the prime minister of driving Israel toward a civil war.

"The prime minister is intractable," said Eran Sternberg, a spokesman for the Gaza settlers. "He runs roughshod over everyone. He thinks, `I am the nation, and the nation is me."'

About 8,200 settlers live in 21 Gaza settlements, among 1.3 million Palestinians. Sharon decided that the settlers cannot remain in the hostile, poverty-stricken seaside territory. His plan also calls for evacuating four tiny enclaves in the northern part of the West Bank next summer.

Current polls show about two-thirds of Israelis support the pullout, despite large, well-funded and publicised protests by the settlers and their backers. Sharon has already lost two separate votes within his Likud Party on his plan.

In the wake of his meeting with the settlers, Sharon said he was especially concerned by an influential rabbi's recent call on Orthodox Jewish soldiers to refuse orders to evacuate the settlements. Dozens of lower-ranking rabbis have signed on to the call.

"The worst thing is to give in to threats of violence and to talk about disobeying orders," Sharon said today. "These are very grave things. I believe these things will be prevented because these are real dangers."

The threat of extremist violence is very sensitive in Israel. In 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by an ultranationalist Jew opposed to his peacemaking with the Palestinians.

Fighting in Gaza has increased in recent months as Israel and Palestinian militants each try to declare victory ahead of the planned Israeli withdrawal, and violence continued Monday.

Two Palestinian gunmen who infiltrated Israel from Gaza today were killed after a lengthy gun battle with Israeli soldiers. Troops shot and killed both men, one of whom blew up, apparently because he was wearing an explosives belt, the army said.

The militant Hamas group claimed responsibility for the infiltration and said the two gunmen belonged to the group.

The army also killed two militants who planted an explosive device in southern Gaza, near the border with Egypt.

In another attack near the Kissufim crossing into Israel, two militants who attacked a military vehicle and injured one soldier, were shot dead. Islamic Jihad claimed that one of its militants was killed in the fighting.

The violence came days after the army ended a broad operation in northern Gaza that was aimed at preventing Palestinians from firing homemade rockets at Israeli towns.