Israeli settlers' extreme devotion

By Barbara Plett BBC correspondent in Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon recently warned his cabinet that extremists were at large, trying to sabotage his plan to dismantle some Jewish settlements built illegally on occupied Palestinian land.

Sharon - once the father of settlements - is now called traitor

There is a "serious campaign of incitement", he said.

"I would say (there are) calls that are actually aimed at causing a war between brothers."

Polls show a majority of Israelis support Mr Sharon's initiative to unilaterally disengage from the interior of the Gaza Strip and a small part of the West Bank.

But there is also such strong opposition that it has triggered talk of a Jewish civil war.

Terrible memories

The fiercest language is coming from what was once Ariel Sharon's core constituency: religious Jewish settlers.

Some have labelled him a traitor and a dictator. They have called for soldiers to refuse evacuation orders.

A few extremist rabbis justified Yigal Amir's killing of Rabin

Security forces are on high alert - afraid words will turn to violent action - although some officials disagree with Mr Sharon about what form it could take.

"I don't think that there is a chance we will see civil war or something even close to it," said Yuval Steinitz, who heads the parliamentary defence committee.

"It is enough to have one lunatic person that will try to assassinate the prime minister or another public figure - that would be a disaster."

The settlers have mobilised in mass rallies, saying no Israeli government has the right to remove them.

They believe Gaza as well as the rest of occupied Palestinian land is part of biblical Israel given to them by God.

But they have toned down the rhetoric since Mr Sharon's warning, conscious of the terrible memory it stirs.

Nearly 10 years ago, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was gunned down by a Jewish extremist, after he had agreed to withdraw Israeli troops from Palestinian towns in the West Bank.

Rabin advocated a compromise deal with the Palestinians

Settler leaders say they do not want such violence to happen again, but fear it might.

"We are against any violence, we are against any civil war, we are against any separation inside the Jewish people - but we don't control people," said Shaul Goldstein, deputy chairman of the Settlers Council.

"We have many people around Israel that we don't control. We don't know those lunatics, we are afraid of them, they can burn all Israeli society, and we have to stop it together, with the government."

Messianic mission

The so-called lunatics are the radical fringe, a minority of Israel's 400,000 settlers.

They have a history of violence against Arabs.

They don't have any ethical, human, political limits Idith Zertal, Author

They believe that they have a messianic mission to redeem what they see as all of Israel's land.

And they recognise no authority but God's, said Israeli author Idith Zertal, who is writing a book about settlers.

"They don't recognise the authority of the state, they don't recognise the authority of the democratic institutions, not at all," she said.

"They don't have any ethical, human, political limits," she added.

Soldiers met stiff resistance when they tried even the simplest evacuation, dismantling an illegal setter outpost last year.

Young Jewish settlers fought ferociously, but they did not use weapons.

Prepared to fight

That may change if the army attempts the same thing in the Gaza Strip.

Right-wing activist Itamar Ben-Gvir is a settler in the West Bank, but he is prepared to fight for Gaza. 

The Bible comes first - and then all the rest Itamar Ben-Gvir, West Bank settler

"We will fight against whoever comes to take us away the same way they fight," he said.

"If they'll come with their hands, we'll answer them with our hands. If they come with sticks, we'll hit them back with sticks.

"If they'll come with guns I assume there will be people who have guns as well," he added.

In any conflict between the state and his understanding of scripture, it is clear which he would obey.

"The Bible comes first - and then all the rest. It's always been this way for the Jewish people," he said.

For 30 years Mr Sharon was the sponsor of Israel's settlers - including its messianic fringe.

He used government money to fund their settlements and urged them to take every hill in the West Bank and Gaza.

Now he has decided remove the settlements in Gaza and the troops that protect them.

His problem is that some settlers may be ready to turn against him. It is based on their version of Judaism, which they believe legitimises violence - including against Jews.