Uri Bar-Lev, the newly appointed commander of the southern division of the Police Department, broached the topic while addressing a conference on law and society.
He said that he foresees "protestors from all parts of the country" if and when the government orders the police to forcefully expel from their homes the 8,000 residents of 25 towns and communities - four in northern Samaria, three in northern Gaza south of Ashkelon and 18 in Gush Katif in southern Gaza, several miles west of Beersheba.
"From the standpoint of values, the police is not happy about having to confront citizens of the country," Bar-Lev said.
The conference also heard a top government legal advisor warn that the government will have to withdraw from the troublesome Philadelphi Route in order to declare the Palestinian Authority (PA) responsible for the Gaza area.
Prime Minster Ariel Sharon has proposed that Israel withdraw from the area but retain control of coastal traffic as well as the Philadelphi Route, which is a major source of smuggling from Egypt. Dr. Shavit Matias, a government deputy legal advisor, said Israeli control of the route would allow the PA to argue that Israel is not allowing it to take responsibility.
"If the IDF withdrawal does not include the Philadelphi Route, under international law we will continue to be considered responsible for what happens in Gaza," she explained.
At the Herzilya Conference on national security Thursday, Major-General Yaakov Amidror, a leading opponent of PM Sharon's disengagement plan, said the withdraw would turn Gaza into a "shelter for Al-Qaida." He accused Sharon's aide Dov Weisglass, who helped formulate the program, "of repeating his old mistakes."
Weisglass replied that the plan to eradicate the 25 Jewish communities is "a careful step to test what is going on and see how reality is being molded and if things don't develop as expected, we will stop."
He said that he foresees "protestors from all parts of the country" if and when the government orders the police to forcefully expel from their homes the 8,000 residents of 25 towns and communities - four in northern Samaria, three in northern Gaza south of Ashkelon and 18 in Gush Katif in southern Gaza, several miles west of Beersheba.
"From the standpoint of values, the police is not happy about having to confront citizens of the country," Bar-Lev said.
The conference also heard a top government legal advisor warn that the government will have to withdraw from the troublesome Philadelphi Route in order to declare the Palestinian Authority (PA) responsible for the Gaza area.
Prime Minster Ariel Sharon has proposed that Israel withdraw from the area but retain control of coastal traffic as well as the Philadelphi Route, which is a major source of smuggling from Egypt. Dr. Shavit Matias, a government deputy legal advisor, said Israeli control of the route would allow the PA to argue that Israel is not allowing it to take responsibility.
"If the IDF withdrawal does not include the Philadelphi Route, under international law we will continue to be considered responsible for what happens in Gaza," she explained.
At the Herzilya Conference on national security Thursday, Major-General Yaakov Amidror, a leading opponent of PM Sharon's disengagement plan, said the withdraw would turn Gaza into a "shelter for Al-Qaida." He accused Sharon's aide Dov Weisglass, who helped formulate the program, "of repeating his old mistakes."
Weisglass replied that the plan to eradicate the 25 Jewish communities is "a careful step to test what is going on and see how reality is being molded and if things don't develop as expected, we will stop."