Many Gaza settlers agree to move

Gaza's Jewish settlers insist on being relocated in Israel together

Jewish settlers in Gaza say most of them are ready to relocate if Israeli PM Ariel Sharon pushes ahead with plans to withdraw from the strip.

The settlers said they were still opposed to a pullout, but that 1,000 of the 1,600 settler families in Gaza were willing to move to Israel or the West Bank.

A condition of accepting eviction is that they are relocated together.

Correspondents say the move indicates an easing in the opposition to the

Israeli government's withdrawal plans.

The main thing that is important to all of us is that if we are evacuated that we remain together Yigal Meoded Neve Dekalim resident

Earlier this month, hundreds of anti-pullout activists were arrested after blocking roads across Israel in protest at the plans.

The settlers now reconciled to leaving had signed a document stating that if the government went ahead with the plan to dismantle Gaza settlements, they wanted to move as a group, said Eran Sternberg, a settler spokesman.

However, he went on, settlers reserved the right to resist when Israeli soldiers and police tried to evict them.

Widespread protests

There have been widespread protests against disengagement from Gaza, with opponents of the policy blocking roads, burning tyres and threatening to bring tens of thousands of people to Gaza to block the pullout, which is expected in the middle of August.

Many settlers have refused to co-operate with officials responsible for arranging financial compensation and relocating them.

Israel is planning to evacuate all its 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and the troops who protect them as part of a unilateral disengagement plan.

It will maintain control of the borders, airspace and coastline of Gaza, which is home to about 1.5m Palestinians.