Sharon deputy says pullout could be brought forward

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's deputy raised the prospect of bringing forward the start of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza to prevent opponents of the pullout from carrying out threats to disrupt it.

A march on Gaza's settlements by thousands of demonstrators fizzled out after security forces blocked the way, but Israeli police said they arrested about 300 people trying to slip into the occupied strip overnight.

Settlement evacuation is scheduled to begin in mid-August, but officials are increasingly worried about giving ultranationalists any more time to mount disruptive protests and foment resistance among a hard core of Gaza settlers.

"I definitely weigh positively the possibility of moving up the date set ahead of time," Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Israel Radio. "The developments of the past days have signaled a direction in nature of the clashes and protests."

A government source said Sharon, also concerned about a surge of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed, might discuss possible changes in the pullout timetable with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who begins a visit to the region.

Sharon, who has billed his plan as "disengagement" from conflict with the Palestinians, originally planned evacuation of Gaza's 21 settlements to begin on July 22 but delayed it to avoid a Jewish mourning period that starts this weekend.

Any attempt to bring forward the withdrawal would further antagonize religious settlers and their supporters who believe Jews have a biblical birthright to Gaza, where 8,500 Jews live in isolation from 1.3 million Palestinians.

It could also put further strain on army and police, who have not yet completed preparations for the pullout.

The security forces' resources were stretched thin this week by the biggest standoff so far with anti-pullout protesters.

Led by right-wing rabbis, 6,000 demonstrators who had been penned into the southern Israeli farming village of Kfar Maimon village for three days massed at the gates on Wednesday night but there was no repeat of clashes that erupted a day earlier.

"We feel at this time it is not wise to confront the police and army," said Benzi Lieberman, head of the YESHA settlers council. "I request everyone who can to remain here and others to come back. We must continue our struggle in the right way."

Only a few hundred people remained at the site, 15 km from the main Gush Katif settlement bloc.

Most Israelis support the Gaza pullout, but opponents say ceding any land captured in the 1967 Middle East war would reward the Palestinian uprising.

Palestinians say they welcome withdrawal from any of the territory on which they hope to create a state, but point to the fact that Israel is strengthening its hold on larger settlements in the occupied West Bank at the same time as giving up Gaza.

Despite some scuffles at Kfar Maimon, which has become a symbol of resistance to Sharon's plan, the mainstream settler movement has pledged that it will not use violence.

After abandoning the march, settler leaders said they still hoped to get thousands of people into the settlements to reinforce those who plan to resist evacuation.

To stop any breakout at Kfar Maimon, police laid coils of razor wire, triggering fury among rightists who said it recalled the days of Nazi death camps. Some orange-clad protesters stood eye-to-eye with police. Others prayed and danced in the dark.

Keen to see the pullout go smoothly, the United States hopes the withdrawal will help revive stalled negotiations on a US-backed peace "road map."

A recent flare-up in Israeli-Palestinian violence prompted Rice to arrange a trouble-shooting mission to the region this week to try to keep the Gaza plan on track.

- REUTERS