JERUSALEM, June 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday that steps will be taken against settlers who resist the evacuation of the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank.

    "Anyone who attacks soldiers or policemen and resists the evacuation should realize there will be a price to pay," Sharon told the Knesset (parliament) Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

    His remark was responding to a question by member of Knessset Ran Cohen who demanded that the government reduce compensation to settlers who resist the evacuation.

"It is inconceivable that settlers who resort to violence and hurt IDF (Israel Defence Forces) troops or policemen will receive the same amount of compensation as those who do nothing," Cohen told Israel Radio.

    But sources close to the prime minister noted that the measures that Sharon mentioned do not include reducing compensation. Sharon told the committee that settlers "may leave their homes tomorrow morning and receive compensation."
He rejected calls to retract the disengagement plan following the attack on the IDF outpost in Gaza on Sunday and Qassam rocket attacks on the southern Israeli town of Sderot on Monday.

    Two people were killed and at least nine were injured Monday morning when two Qassam rockets landed on Sderot. Hamas claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks, which was the first time a Qassam has led directly to an Israeli fatality.
"The disengagement plan will be executed as planned," Sharon was quoted as saying.

    According to the working papers presented by the government two weeks ago, settlers in the Gaza Strip are forced to leave on Sept.1, 2005, and the process will last two weeks.

    Voluntary evacuation will begin this August. But government sources noted that various elements of this timetable could be changed due to political pressures. Enditem