OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Straitstimes: Israeli settlers want to stay put, Rejecting evacuation for peace,
right-wing activists warn they will resist any attempt to uproot them

JERUSALEM - For the 225,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip, the 'road map' to peace leads to a dead end. 'We don't regard
this as a legitimate government anymore.' - Activist David Haivri, calling
Mr Sharon a traitor. -- AP Settler leaders, fearful that evacuation of
their communities might be Israel's price for peace, have warned that they
would resist any attempts by any means - short of open violence. Members of
extremist groups have not ruled out the use of arms against soldiers if
it comes to a fight. Some are calling Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a
'traitor'.We don't regard this as a legitimate government anymore,' Mr David
Haivri, a right-wing activist, told the Ma'ariv newspaper. Similar comments
were heard among extremist groups in the months before prime minister
Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by a right-wing student opposed to
withdrawal from the occupied territories.