Jerusalem ? Responding to death threats against government ministers, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered law enforcement agencies Sunday to crack down on Jewish extremists opposed to the planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Cabinet ministers said the charged climate was reminiscent of the period before the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was in peace negotiations with the Palestinians. One minister warned Sharon himself could become a target. Extremists have put up posters across the country that say Rabin and the prime minister’s deceased wife, Lily, are “waiting for Sharon.”

Despite the concerns, Sharon’s Cabinet approved a list of 500 Palestinian prisoners to be released in coming days, and several hundred Palestinian workers were permitted to return to jobs in Israel in line with agreements reached at a Mideast summit last week.

Israeli officials have voiced concerns about Jewish extremist opposition to the pullout plan for months. But with this summer’s planned withdrawal quickly approaching and a recent warming of ties with the Palestinians, the level of alarm has been raised.

Sharon instructed law enforcement agencies to report back to the Cabinet as soon as possible with steps that can be taken to “rein in the violent rampage” of extremists opposing his plan, a statement said.

Several Cabinet ministers said they have received threatening letters in recent days, and last week Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had his tires slashed and slurs shouted at him while attending a wedding.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, was to present a new Cabinet to his Fatah movement for approval Tuesday. Abbas was expected to appoint new interior, foreign and information ministers but keep on many current government members, officials said.

In an upbeat interview to be published in today’s edition of The New York Times, Abbas said the war with the Israelis was effectively over and that Sharon was speaking “a different language” to the Palestinians.

An Israeli Jewish settler gestures to her son as he returns from school in the Jewish settlement of Netzarim in the central Gaza Strip Sunday. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon instructed Israel's law enforcement agencies to rein

Abbas spoke proudly of persuading the radical groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad to respect the truce he and Sharon announced Tuesday at their first meeting, in Sharm el Sheik, Egypt — the highest-level meeting between Israelis and Palestinians in four years.