Israeli Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar on Tuesday warned that calls by some rabbis to forcibly resist the evacuation of settlements could lead to bloodshed.

In an interview with Israel Radio, Amar also said settlers slated for evacuation under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan should be given the opportunity to present their position and vent their anger.

Amar called on the government to ensure that everything possibleis done to ensure that synagogues at settlements slated for evacuation are unscathed.

Under the disengagement plan put forward by Sharon at the end of2003, Israel will remove all Gaza settlements and four of about 120 in the West Bank this summer.

Sharon is likely to approve Tuesday a request by the government Disengagement Administration to postpone by three weeks the evacuation so as not to coincide with the Tesha B'Av mourning period that marks the destruction of the biblical temples.

If the proposal is accepted, the disengagement, scheduled for July 20, will begin on Aug. 15.

Source: Xinhua