The settlers say the barrier, coupled with Israel's withdrawal from 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the West Bank, signals the death knell for their communities.

``I know that, in one or two years, there will be a knock on the door and they will say they are taking me out in withdrawal No 2 or No 3,'' settler Benny Raz declared. ``I don't want to wait.''

Raz and other settlers have formed the One Home movement to seek compensation for their homes.

Settlers like Raz are raising an issue that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has carefully avoided so far in pushing his plan of ``disengagement'' from the Palestinians - what will happen to about 80,000 Israelis in dozens of communities on what has become the ``Palestinian'' side of the barrier.

The Palestinians suspect the route of the barrier is meant to demarcate Israel's future border, even if the Israeli government portrays it as a temporary security measure to keep out Palestinian bombers and gunmen.

Sharon has said there will be no more unilateral withdrawals after Israel pulls out of Gaza and some of the settlements in the northern West Bank.

But officials have acknowledged that some settlements outside the barrier eventually may be taken down if they become indefensible.

Raz said he desperately wants to move, but he is an economic hostage.

The 51-year-old minibus driver bought his house in Karnei Shomron for US$100,000 (HK$780,000) five years ago, just months before the start of the second Palestinian uprising. Now, he would be lucky to get US$40,000 for it because people believe his community is doomed, he said.

``I have to stay here,'' he said. ``I have no way to leave.''

The One Home settlers say the government must help them out since it lured them into the settlements with economic incentives, and is now signaling that it wants them to leave.

``You helped me come here, now you have to help me leave,'' Raz said of the government.

The first signal they were no longer wanted, Raz said, was the barrier - a series of fences, walls and trenches Israel began constructing in 2002.

Palestinians say the route of the barrier, which dips into the West Bank to encompass major settlement blocs but not many smaller communities, is a de facto border that annexes land they want for a future state.

The second signal is the August pullout from 25 settlements, including four not far from Karnei Shomron, a settlement of about 300 families.

Taken together, the developments gave many settlers the ominous feeling that Israel plans to pull back to the barrier, dismantling all the settlements on the other side, Raz said.

ASSOCIATED PRESS