Settlers shifted

Press, 4 February 1982, Page 6

Settlers shifted

NZPA-Reuter Tel Aviv The Israeli Army yesterday dispersed 50 Jewish settlers in Sinai in its - first move against nationalists trying to obstruct Israel’s withdrawal from the peninsula, military sources said. Onlookers said there was no violence when the Army moved to evict the ultranationalists, who had been trying to obstruct the dismantling of a water pipeline near Queseima in northern Sinai. Before taking action yesterday the Army sealed off the area to stop settlers calling in reinforcements from nearby Yamit, the focalpoint of resistance to the pull-out, due before April 26. For months the Govern-

ment has shied away from confrontation with the settlers, and the hardline Defence Minister (Mr Ariel Sharon) has until now vetoed physical action against them. With evacuation less than 100 days away, a group called "The Movement to Stop the Withdrawal from Sinai” has moved more Jew- - ish families into Yamit and nearby agricultural settlements. The Government had earmarked SUS 264 million as compensation for uprooted settlers who leave Sinai peacefully. Earlier yesterday sources at the 'Jewish Agency, a nonGovernment body which helps establish new Jewish communities, said Mr Sharon had ordered the establishment of 16 military outposts on the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights, and these might be turned into civilian settlements.