Shin Bet chief: Israel 'could not bear' another political assassination.

The visit of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to the White House Wednesday, comes as public opinion polls show that Palestinians are increasingly less supportive of the intifada, and more supportive of a deal with Israel.

While these signs point to the possibilities of a more positive relationship between Israelis and Palestinians, at least in the short term, Israel faces another problem.

The Jerusalem Post reported last week that Shin Bet (Israel Security Service) head Yuval Diskin "warned of a rise in Jewish terror, saying he feared that the 'extreme fringes' likely to take part in violent acts to stop disengagement were growing."

Mr. Diskin went on to say that Israel "could not bear" another political assassination.

According to Diskin, Jewish extremists are aiming to attack Prime Minister Ariel Sharon or the Temple Mount in an attempt to halt the implementation of the disengagement plan.

Diskin said the Shin Bet would make every effort to prevent harm against senior figures and Islamic monuments that could touch off a 'shock wave.'

USA Today reported recently that tensions are running so high in regard to the disengagement plan, that many of those opposed to Mr. Sharon's plan to move settlers out of Gaza and parts of the northern West Bank have "resorted to 'Holocaust vocabulary' -- Jews calling other Jews 'Nazis,' Hebrew University political scientist Itzhak Galnoor says."

Such epithets echo the vicious rhetoric heard before Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Jewish extremist in 1995. Newspapers here regularly report threats against Sharon, who has promoted the disengagement plan.

The Post also reported on Tuesday that Shin Bet agents and Israeli police had arrested three resident of the Israeli town of Sderot who were "suspected of collecting information about security arrangements at Sharon's Negev ranch and planning to commit an act at the highly-secured site." The Post said that two of the arrested men had contacted a former employee of a security firm who had done work at Mr. Sharon's ranch in order to get information about security details.

The men were later released and were greeted by a large crowd of supporters. Arutz Sheva reports that the brother-in-law of one of the men said the arrests were part of a government effort to "clamp the right wing's mouths."

Ha'aretz reported Tuesday that Alexander Rabinovitch, 22, from Haifa, was convicted of "involvement in terror activity against Israeli Arab residents of the northern port city." The Jerusalem Post reported that Mr. Rabinovitch, who was a member of the Israeli Army at the time, agreed to supply "so-called Jewish underground suspect Eliran Golan" with materials to make bombs to attack Arabs.

Golan is suspected of having placed nine bombs in the Haifa area, with his targets including a mosque, Arab-owned homes and cars, Jews he believed had befriended Arabs, and Golan's employer at a messenger service. Some of the improvised bombs exploded, wounding a number of people.

Meanwhile, the New York Jewish Week reports that a "group of Bible Belt Baptist ministers who see the [disengagement] plan as an affront to God’s will" will join 100 American Jews to travel to Israel to protest Sharon's plan.

"The Bible says that land belongs to the Jews," the Rev. James Vineyard of the Windsor Hill Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, said in an interview. "The Lord, God of Israel, is not going to look favorably on the giving-away of one grain of sand."

Rev. Vineyard last month organized a demonstration in Crawford, Texas, against disengagement when President George W. Bush hosted Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. He belongs to a coalition of Jewish and Christian Zionists, Yedidim for Israel -- or dear friends of Israel -- that opposes all concessions to the Palestinians. Rev. Vineyard said he recently raised more than $50,000 to create a DVD for churches and synagogues explaining opposition to the Gaza plan.

In an editorial Monday, The Jerusalem Post called on "right-wing American Jews and Christian Evangelicals" to "accept changing realities in the Middle East," and instead of "wasting energy" fighting disengagement, work to "strengthen the government's hand in securing Ma'aleh Adumim, Gush Etzion and the other 'consensus' [West Bank] settlements."

Reuters reports that most settlers affected by the Gaza plan have "agreed to move to Israel if their bid to prevent evacuation fails." But authorities also suggest it might actually be "a ruse to obstruct the pullout plan."

Recent polls show that 60 percent of Israelis support the plan to give up the Gaza settlements. The Guardian looks at the personal toll that leaving Gaza settlements will have on those who have lived there for years, especially for one woman who still can't believe she's being asked to move.

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