Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said today razing homes of Jewish settlers to be evacuated from Gaza was unnecessary and would endanger the lives of soldiers by dragging out the withdrawal.
Palestinian officials want Israel to demolish the houses before leaving. Israel's government will decide as early as next week whether to destroy the homes or leave them intact.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said he prefers the second option. Speaking on Israel's Memorial Day for fallen soldiers, Mofaz reaffirmed his opposition to razing the settler homes, a step he said would endanger security forces involved in the demolitions and removal of rubble.
"After we evacuate the settlers we would have to maintain military forces, security guards and forces to destroy the houses in the middle of enemy territory and there is no assurance that there wouldn't be terror attacks," Mofaz said.
"I am not prepared, as the defence minister of the state of Israel, to endanger Israeli soldiers in order to destroy the houses of settlers," he said on Israel Radio.
The pullout, which would be the first removal of settlers from land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and which Palestinians want for a state, is to begin in mid-August and Mofaz said it would be completed in four to five weeks.
Some 8,500 Jews are to be uprooted from settlements in Gaza and hundreds from four of 120 settlements in the West Bank under Sharon's plan to "disengage" from conflict with Palestinians, now generally observing a ceasefire after a 4.5 year revolt. But hardline rightist settlers vow to resist evacuation.