Israeli Leader Warns Of Showdown

A government plan to dismantle Israeli settlements and impose a new boundary with the Palestinians will touch off bitter confrontation with Jewish settlers but must go ahead for the sake of the country's security, the prime minister's top deputy said Sunday.

Vice Premier Ehud Olmert's comments pointed to fears of a bitter internal conflict over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's recent announcement that Israel will have to evacuate settlements even without a peace agreement. The Palestinians vehemently oppose the plan, and now even members of Sharon's Likud Party say they would rather break a government coalition than back it.

"I have no doubt there be a very painful, difficult, heartbreaking process, and a confrontation of (previously) unknown proportion in the life of this country," Olmert told the local Foreign Press Association. "It's a serious crisis ... There's no doubt about it. I expect it to be very emotional and very confrontational."

Olmert said Israel had to leave most of the West Bank and Gaza — an about-face for his Likud Party — because otherwise Arabs will soon outnumber Israel's 5.5 million Jews in the territory it controls. "Do we want (the Palestinians) to be equal citizens in the state of Israel and ultimately dictate the nature of the state?" Olmert said.

Also Sunday, Israeli troops conducted a series of raids in the West Bank city of Nablus, arresting a Hamas leader and killing a 5-year-old Palestinian boy, Palestinian witnesses said.

Israeli and Palestinian officials were still trying to arrange a meeting between Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart, Ahmed Qureia. A meeting between Sharon and Qureia is seen as an important step toward reviving talks on the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan.

The road map seeks an immediate end to violence and envisions the creation of an independent Palestinian state by 2005. Its implementation has been delayed for months by continued violence, a Palestinian political crisis and violations by both sides.

In his speech last Thursday, Sharon reiterated his commitment to the road map. But he said that if the Palestinians do not make serious peace moves in the next few months, Israel would impose its own boundaries on them to improve Israel's security.

The Palestinians have made clear that they do not intend to dismantle militant groups, a move required by the road map and Sharon's main demand. Qureia has instead tried in vain to coax a pledge of nonviolence from the militants — an approach Sharon has dismissed as insufficient.

Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed Maher, was expected in Israel on Monday in an effort to get the peace plan back on track.

Sharon said that if he decides on unilateral steps, the Palestinians would receive much less land than under a negotiated agreement. But he also warned Israelis that his unilateral steps would involve a withdrawal from and dismantling of some Jewish communities in Gaza and the West Bank.

Olmert, a close Sharon ally, conceded that evacuating parts of the West Bank and Gaza — where more than 220,000 Israelis live among some 3.5 Palestinians — would be painful for Israel. But he maintained that the government is serious, saying probably "tens of thousands" of people would be affected.

"There will be a very serious protest and I don't take it lightly," Olmert said.

Reflecting those fissures, nine members of Sharon's Likud Party said they would rather bring down the government than vote for his disengagement plan.

"We will tell the prime minister clearly that, if we implement a unilateral plan and we dismantle legal settlements, we will definitely reach a situation in which we will vote against" the government, said one of the lawmakers, Ehud Yatom.

Cabinet Minister Zevulun Orlev, of the hawkish National Religious Party, said Sharon's speech threatened the future of the governing coalition.

"The subject of dismantling and the moving of settlements certainly raises question marks about the existence of the coalition," he said.

Meanwhile, the army continued a crackdown in the West Bank city of Nablus, saying it had arrested Hamas leader Adnan Asfour. Asfour's brother, Said Asfour, said troops had also taken away a computer and a number of maps.

Most of the current Hamas leadership is in the Gaza Strip, and Israel has killed or arrested most of the Hamas leaders in the West Bank during the more than three years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Later Sunday, an Israeli soldier killed a 5-year-old Palestinian boy in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus, witnesses and hospital officials said. Hospital officials said the boy, Mohammed Al Araj, was shot in the chest.

The army said soldiers had opened fire in Balata after being attacked by a crowd that threw rocks, bottles and an explosive device. It had no information on a boy being shot, but said it was still investigating.