``The settlers, in their campaign to delegitimize the disengagement, will try to lead to a situation of civil war-- and under this threat of civil war prevent any evacuations of settlements,'' said Avshalom Vilan from the Meretz party.

``They are trying, step-by- step, to drag us into an apocalyptic situation,'' he told the radio.

In the newspaper interview, Sharon also said that Israel can continue building in large West Bank settlement blocs without U.S. opposition if it does so quietly.

While the U.S.-backed ``road map'' peace plan calls for a settlement freeze, Israel believes it has tacit American approval for building within these blocs which it wants to keep in any future peace deal.

U.S. diplomats say publicly that Washington remains committed to the road map. However, an announcement in August that Israel would build 1,000 new homes in settlements near Jerusalem drew just a muted U.S. response.

U.S. medical commanders say the sharp rise in battlefield injuries reflects more than three weeks of fighting by two Army and one Marine battalion in the southern city of Najaf. At the same time, U.S. units frequently faced combat in a sprawling Shiite Muslim slum in Baghdad and in the Sunni cities of Fallujah, Ramadi and Samarra, all of which remain under the control of insurgents two months after the transfer of political authority....

....Capt. Neil Taufen, an emergency room physician, said the pace was all the more striking because it came after a quiet stretch.

They surrounded 10 apartment buildings and ordered hundreds of Palestinians to leave their homes.

Residents said the tanks fired shells at the buildings before telling the Palestinians to leave.

Soldiers then demolished two of the buildings which the army said had been used to fire mortars, rockets and anti-tank missiles at Israeli forces and the nearby Jewish settlements of Gush Katif and Neve Dekalim.

Helicopters fired missiles into the camp, wounding six Palestinians.

The New York Times reported Saturday that the United States will now tacitly support construction in built-up areas of major Jewish settlements, while remaining opposed to housing activity in undeveloped areas....

....Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, said he was waiting for confirmation of the apparent shift in U.S. policy, adding that he would be shocked if it were true.

``I can't believe that America is now saying that settlement expansion is all right,'' he said. ``This will destroy the peace process.''

Palestinian medical sources said Ahmed Hams died as he tended a friend who had been shot and injured.