Israel investigates pro-settler demo during army parade

By Dan Williams

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A group of Israeli army conscripts who disrupted their swearing-in ceremony by calling for continued Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank were threatened on Friday with dismissal.

Although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in no rush to remove settlements from occupied land where Palestinians seek statehood, Thursday's protest gave voice to nationalists' fears that he will eventually cave in to U.S. peacemaking pressure.

According to Army Radio, several members of the Kfir (Lioncub) infantry brigade waved placards with slogans such as "We did not enlist in order to evacuate Jews" as they paraded in Jerusalem to mark the end of basic training.

That the incident took place at the Western Wall prayer plaza, where generations of Israeli troops have sworn their allegiance to the Jewish state, sharpened the infraction.

"This was a disgraceful disciplinary aberration that will be addressed," a military spokesman said in a statement. "The Kfir commander will, furthermore, consider whether these soldiers will continue to serve in the brigade."

The U.S. administration said on Thursday that Israel had shown "willingness to curtail settlement activity," though Netanyahu has resisted calls for a total freeze on construction.

Israeli officials appear instead to be focussed on dismantling outposts erected by settlers without government approval. Some of the outposts are meagre lean-tos, others full-fledged annexes to established settlements. Israel pledged to crack down on them in 2003. Implementation has been fitful.

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