TEL AVIV Ñ The number of Israelis who urge soldiers to refuse orders for the eviction of Jews from their communities in the West Bank has risen sharply.   

A study by Bar-Ilan University reported that a majority of Orthodox Jews support soldiers who refuse orders to evict Jews from the West Bank, Middle East Newsline reported. The study, authored by Hanan Moses, said 50 percent of Jews termed "national-religious" call for the disobeying of such orders.

The poll was released amid Israeli expectations of U.S. and European pressure to renew plans to dismantle scores of Jewish communities as part of an effort to facilitate a Palestinian state in the West Bank. Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had pledged to evict tens of thousands of Jews to help fulfill a U.S. plan to establish a Palestinian state in 2009.

Moses, in a doctoral thesis, surveyed 515 Orthodox Jewish participants. They were divided into so-called religious nationalists, Orthodox Jews in cities and ultra-Orthodox.

Among ultra-Orthodox, described as those who stressed the observance of Jewish law, 90 percent of those surveyed supported soldiers who refused eviction orders. Among so-called modern Orthodox urban residents, the number fell to 25 percent.

Most of those who supported a rejection of eviction orders of Jews characterized this as conscientious objection rather than a violation of biblical law. The majority of respondents said the state, with the exception of the military, was hostile to Orthodox Jews.

Over the last year, the Israeli military has sought to reduce its participation in the eviction of Jews from communities and outposts in the West Bank. In most cases, the army has been replaced by special operations forces from the police.

About 80 percent of the Orthodox Jewish respondents described themselves as right-wing. In the Feb. 10 elections, two so-called national religious parties won a total of seven seats of the 120-seat Knesset.

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