A group of 34 Israeli reserve officers has threatened to disobey any order to evacuate settlements under Israel's plan for a partial withdrawal from the occupied territories.
A letter published today in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper marked the strongest sign so far of possible mass dissent in the ranks over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's intention to remove all 21 settlements in Gaza and only four of 120 in the West Bank this year.
"We demand the army not force us to take action that violates our beliefs and conscience," the group, which the newspaper said included four battalion commanders, wrote in the letter to the their brigade commander.
"We believe any order to implement the 'disengagement' is illegal," the group said. "A soldier is forbidden from carrying out this kind of order, according to the laws of the land and the Israel Defence Forces code of conduct."
Settler leaders said this week thousands of soldiers opposed to the uprooting of settlements on land Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war could refuse to remove settlers from their homes.
"This letter is a dangerous phenomenon," Yuval Shteinitz, chairman of parliament's influential Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, told Israel Radio: "Disobedience is dangerous. It could tear the army apart."
He urged authorities to court-martial any soldiers who mutiny.
The army yesterday jailed a soldier for 28 days for urging comrades to refuse orders to remove a Jewish settler outpost in the West Bank on Monday. The sergeant was arrested during mass scuffles at the site.
It is unlikely, however, reservists will be called upon to drag settlers away. Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz has said conscripts and police would carry out evacuations.
Last month, a former Israeli chief rabbi issued a ritual ruling last month forbidding soldiers to evacuate settlements, claiming a biblical right to land Palestinians want for a state of their own.