http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/091117/world/mideast_israel_settler_army_2JERUSALEM (AFP) - Four Israeli soldiers were sentenced to prison and other punitive measures on Tuesday for refusing orders to take part in the evacuation of a Jewish outpost in the occupied West Bank.
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The incident, the latest in a series where religious soldiers voiced their objection to remove Jews in the West Bank, led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to warn such disobedience could lead to Israel's collapse.
It took place on Monday when a number of soldiers responsible for securing an area where police were removing an outpost near the city of Hebron held up a sign stating they refused to evacuate settlements.
A military court sentenced a squad commander of the Nachshon battalion to 20 days in prison and permanently dismissed him from command positions, the army said.
Another soldier was sent to 14 days in jail while two others were confined to their base for four weeks. Two other soldiers had been sentenced on Monday to 30 days in military prison.
General Avi Benyahu told army radio on Tuesday that "in the past we have been confronted with the same type of situation and reason won out in the end."
Prime minister Netanyahu said that order refusal among the army ranks would lead to the collapse of the Jewish state.
"If one wants to destroy the IDF (army), he should encourage order refusal, which would in turn lead to the collapse of the state. This should not be accepted in any form," he told reporters in the north of the country.
Last week, 25 Israeli reservists, including some officers, signed a petition asking that they not have to take part in any evacuation of Jewish settlements.
On October 22, two Kfir Brigade conscripts held up banners expressing solidarity with Jewish settlers in the West Bank during their swearing-in ceremony in Jerusalem.
A military court sentenced them to 20 days in prison.
The issue of Jewish settlements is one of the thorniest in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the main stumbling block in stalled US efforts to restart peace negotiations.
Settlement outposts built without government authorisation are considered illegal under Israeli law. The international community considers all Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land illegal.
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