JERUSALEM — Jewish settler leaders sent conflicting signals Friday about whether they will comply with a government order to turn in their weapons ahead of this summer's historic Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

The statements added a new element of uncertainty in the run-up to the withdrawal, which will involve the evacuation of all 21 settlements in Gaza and four small settlements in the West Bank. It would be the first time Israel has removed any of the more than 150 settlements it has built in territories captured in the 1967 Mideast war and claimed by the Palestinians.

Israel and the Palestinians have been observing an informal cease-fire, and Israel hopes the calm will last at least until the pullout is complete. But the truce has grown increasingly strained in recent days following the deaths of four Palestinians in a series of clashes with Israeli troops.

In the latest threat to the truce, a 21-year-old Palestinian gunman infiltrated the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights on Friday from a refugee camp in Syria, but was captured by troops. Military officials said the man — an operative with the ruling Palestinian Fatah party — planned to kidnap an Israeli officer and take to Syria.

Col. Nizar Faress, the Israeli district military commander, said the army held Syria responsible for the incident. But he and other officials stopped short of accusing Syria of direct involvement.

Israeli officials accuse Syria of backing Palestinian militants in the West Bank, but the border has been largely quiet for decades. Israel captured the Golan in the 1967 Middle East War and subsequently annexed it.

"This border was a quiet border since 1974, and I hope this is not a change in policy," said Ron Prossor, the director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Syria did not immediately comment.

Meanwhile, Palestinian militants tried to plant a bomb near the Kissufim crossing in Gaza, but it went off prematurely, the army said. Troops uncovered and defused a second bomb near the Israeli border. There were no injuries in either incident, it said.

The Gaza pullout, set to begin in just three months, is emerging as a formidable task. Israeli officials must deal with the logistics of uprooting more than 9,000 settlers and finding them new homes.

Defense planners are preparing for the possibility of attacks by Palestinian militants, while also trying to fend off potential violence by settlers or other opponents of the withdrawal.

Fearing violence, the Defense Ministry said Thursday it would order Gaza settlers to turn in their weapons ahead of the pullout, set to begin in late July. Earlier this week, the army issued a similar order for residents of the West Bank settlements slated for evacuation.

Avner Shimoni, mayor of the Gaza settlements, said Friday that he favored complying with the Defense Ministry's order.

"We won't use these weapons to shoot, and if we have to return them we'll return them," he told Army Radio. "The weapons were given to us for self-defense only. I, at least, and my friends will turn in these arms."

But Eran Sternberg, a spokesman for Gaza settlers, said residents wouldn't turn over their arms, a sign of divisions within the movement as the pullout approaches.

Opponents of the handover said the weapons are needed for protection from the Palestinians.

"It is unthinkable that any of the settlers would think of using weapons against the security forces," said the Yesha council, an umbrella group representing settlers in the West Bank and Gaza. ""The settlers hold private or any weapons given to them by law, for self-defense against the Palestinian enemy."

Settler leaders say all resistance to the plan will be nonviolent, and an increasing number of settlers have indicated in recent days they will cooperate with the pullout.

According to a poll published Friday in the Yediot Ahronot daily, 74 percent of the 402 settlers questioned said they would passively resist evacuating forces, while 11 percent said they would use force. The poll had a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.

The military declined to say how many guns it has issued to settlers. But settlers have estimated there are 3,500 military-issue and privately held weapons in the settlements that are to be dismantled. The Defense Ministry orders apply only to weapons issued by the military.

A senior military official said soldiers are prepared for all scenarios, including the possibility of violence by extremists.

"If, God forbid, something like that happens, they are ready to act, to isolate that area, to take care of it, even ... to shoot somebody," said the official, whose name couldn't be published under military rules.

When Sharon drew up his plan last year, he envisioned it as a unilateral act to separate Israelis and Palestinians after four years of fighting. But since the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and the election of the moderate Mahmoud Abbas as his successor, the two sides have said they would be willing to coordinate the pullout.