Fearing violent confrontations with the settlers and their supporters, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has ordered security forces to cut the timetable for evacuating the Gaza and Samaria settlements, which is due to begin in late July. Originally, the evacuation was to last 12 weeks, but the government recently cut it to eight weeks. Now, Mofaz has told military and police planners to shorten the timetable to just four weeks. Mofaz said eight weeks would give opponents of the pullout too much time to disrupt it and to bring in reinforcements.