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Masada mindset could lead to violence by extremists

There are some Israeli extremists who say that they haven`t made a strong enough statement yet about the morality of uprooting settlements, and some are driven by a "Masada mentality" - the desire to do something so extreme as to make that message unforgettable. In 74 CE, some 1,000 Jewish zealots held off the Roman army in a mountaintop siege, before the last holdouts committed a mass suicide rather than be killed or taken prisoner and sold into slavery by the Roman authorities. When more than 5,000 Israeli troops arrive here and in nearby Sa-Nur Tuesday, they anticipate a more violent opposition to evacuation than in Gaza, including the possibility of being fired on by young extremists. From Gaza`s seaside settlements - the last of them evacuated Monday - to the hills of northern West Bank, more changes than just topography.

Physically, the mountainous settlements are harder for the army to close off. But ideologically, for settlers who only refer to this region by its biblical name, Samaria, this land is on an even higher ground. Jewish tradition holds that the patriarch Joseph is buried in nearby Nablus, and over the past three decades, some of the most ultranationalist settlers have been drawn to this area. According to various reports, some infiltrators holed up in the two settlements, which have far more agitators than original residents, are arming themselves with weapons. Officials are hopeful that many will only want to put up a tough fight but most won`t turn to bloodshed.

"We prepare for the worst and hope for the best," says Superintendent Sharon Brown of the Israel Police, "but we are definitely preparing for the worst."

Why is Israel removing these four settlements? Israel officials have long said that small, isolated settlements in the West Bank would be the first to go in any land-for-peace deal with the Palestinians. These settlements were often attacked by Palestinian militants, and were seen by the government as places where it was hard to protect the Israeli civilian residents. There are no immediate plans to remove any other West Bank settlements, where about 240,000 settlers live. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said that other settlements might be removed at some point, but no more are planned now.