Sharon faces rising threats from far right

Amid escalating far-right rhetoric branding him a Nazi collaborator and a traitor for his Gaza withdrawal plan, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was asked in the Knesset last week if he wears a flak jacket under his shirt to protect him from assassination.

"No," the heavyset premier replied. "They don't come in my size."

But many politicians and analysts believe the possibility of another assassination is no joke. They say that killing an Israeli prime minister - or a spectacular act of anti-Arab violence by extremist elements - could derail the planned withdrawal of about 8,000 settlers from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank, and that incendiary far-right pronouncements, including invocations of the Holocaust and plans to place a ritual curse on Mr. Sharon, are paving the way for such acts.

Tensions ratcheted up further on Sunday when talks between Sharon and settler leaders ended amid mutual recriminations after Sharon rejected their demand for a referendum on the withdrawal plan. The settler leaders warn of a possible civil war if there is no referendum. A handful of far-right demonstrators picketed the meeting, holding signs that read "Sharon is a traitor" and "Don't meet with traitors."

"In a divided society words can kill," says Amnon Rubinstein, a minister in Yitzhak Rabin's Cabinet when Mr. Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by a right-wing extremist opposed to his ceding land to the Palestinians. Mr. Rubinstein says the current climate "definitely" resembles that which prevailed prior to Mr. Rabin's killing. "The Prime Minister is being accused of being a traitor and this may trigger another assassination attempt."

But Sharon says he remains steadfast in his pursuit of withdrawal despite mounting opposition. Monday, as fighting continued in Gaza killing at least five Palestinian militants, he said he would not back away from removing settlements.

The Yesha council, the leadership group representing the 220,000 settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, says it shuns incitement, believes only in peaceful protest, and opposes the labeling of Sharon as a traitor.

"We disagree with Sharon's policy, but he's the prime minister, we respect him and he's given his life to the well-being of the country," says Josh Hasten, a spokesman for the council.

But some influential rabbis are now saying divine law - as they interpret it - takes precedence over government decisions. A former chief rabbi, Avraham Shapira, last week called on soldiers and police to refuse to participate in evacuating settlers, likening doing so to "desecrating the Sabbath and eating unkosher food." Sixty other rabbis have also called on soldiers not to participate in an evacuation.

The antiwithdrawal campaign has turned personal. Protesters have hoisted pictures of Sharon with the label: "the dictator." It is a reference to, among other things, his shunning of the results of an April Likud party referendum that came out against withdrawal.

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