Jerusalem ? Hundreds of Jewish settlers scuffled with Israeli security forces at an illegal West Bank outpost that was dismantled Sunday after three confrontations in the past four days.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sought to keep the dispute from escalating into a political crisis and issued a rare public criticism of the settlers.

“There is no issue which justifies violence against soldiers and the security forces,” Sharon told his Cabinet.

Sharon, a former general and a staunch supporter of the settlers, also scolded the army for sending troops a day earlier, on the Jewish Sabbath an action that caused an uproar in religious circles whose support is key to the prime minister.

“I want to express great sorrow in my name and the entire Cabinet for the unnecessary, mass violation of the sabbath that was imposed on hundreds of soldiers when they evacuated Havat Gilad,” Sharon said.

Shaul Yaalom, a lawmaker from the National Religious Party, said he would recommend that his party, a major patron of the settler movement, withdraw from the government coalition if Sharon did not investigate why the Havat Gilad operation began before the end of the Sabbath.

The army later announced plans to investigate the incident.

Settlers at the Havat Gilad outpost, outside the Palestinian city of Nablus, burned tires and then threw water bottles and punched members of the security forces to keep them from the hilltop outpost several makeshift homes where a few people have lived for several months.

Police and soldiers, almost all unarmed, eventually moved in and scuffles began. Unlike Palestinian protests, where Israel routinely uses tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds, the security forces dragged away kicking and screaming protesters one by one.

“Don’t do this. Aren’t you Jewish?” one protester shouted at a policeman.

Some protesters sought refuge on the corrugated metal roofs of shipping containers, and soldiers had to clamber up and pull them down. Teenage girls packed themselves inside the containers and it took four women soldiers, each holding a limb, to carry out one settler.

Eventually, several hundred members of the security forces locked elbows and formed a ring around the last two shipping containers, while a welder cut them apart.

Several settlers and security force members suffered cuts and other minor injuries. Late Sunday, settlers returned to the hilltop and began attempting to rebuild structures at the site, Israel’s Army Radio reported.

Havat Gilad, one of dozens of illegal outposts that have cropped up over the past several years, was established a year ago by the family of a settler killed by Palestinian militants.

Sharon’s government says it will not allow new settlements, but will permit the nearly 150 government-authorized settlements to expand in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians want all settlements removed, and are seeking all of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for a future state.