Troops hand out eviction notices in Gaza
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-15 19:43

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip - Defiant and tearful Jewish settlers locked their communities' gates and formed human chains to block troops from delivering eviction notices Monday, as Israel began its historic pullout from the Gaza Strip after 38 years of occupation.

Police and soldiers waited patiently in the sweltering sun and avoided confrontation at the behest of their commanders. One sobbing settler pleaded with a brigadier general not to evict him before the two men embraced.

"It's a painful and difficult day, but it's a historic day," said Israel's defense minister, Shaul Mofaz.

Over the next three weeks, Israel plans to remove all 21 Jewish settlements from Gaza and four from the West Bank. The withdrawal marks the first time Israel will dismantle settlements in areas captured in the 1967 Mideast War and claimed by the Palestinians for their future state.

While Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says the pullout will improve Israel's security, Jewish settlers fiercely oppose the plan and have promised stiff — but nonviolent — resistance.

Israeli troops fired in the air Monday to keep back hundreds of Palestinians, including a few dozen masked gunmen, who were marching toward southern Gaza's Gush Katif bloc of settlements in celebration of the impending withdrawal. The crowd burned a cardboard model of an Israeli settlement, complete with an army watchtower.

In Gaza City, the Islamic militant group Hamas hung banners proclaiming the pullout is a result of attacks by militants on Israelis. "The blood of martyrs has led to liberation," one banner said.

Thousands of Israeli troops marched into Gaza's settlements, delivering eviction notices in some communities, but encountering protests in others. The notices gave settlers until midnight Tuesday to leave. If they ignore the deadline, they will be removed by force and could lose up to a third of their government compensation for the move.

Resistance was stiff in Gush Katif. Hundreds of settlers blocked the gates of Neve Dekalim, Gaza's largest settlement, preventing the forces from entering.

Dozens of observant Jewish men, wearing white prayer shawls, held morning prayers at the gate, appealing for divine intervention to block the withdrawal. Dozens of youths wearing orange, the color of defiance, sat on the streets. "Who dares to do battle with God," read one protester's T-shirt.

Troops moved into the community through a second entrance, only to be blocked by large crowds of settlers who burned tires and formed human chains. Protesters formed a ring around the troops, briefly scuffling with one commander who attempted to break through before giving up. The army did not try to force its way in.

Military commanders listened quietly to the settlers' appeals, but said they would not be deterred.

"We will reach every settler, just as we have planned," said Maj. Gen. Dan Harel, Israel's commander over the Gaza region.

Harel told Army Radio that the operation was going as anticipated. "Our estimation is that by tomorrow night most of the residents will agree to leave," he said.

Many of Gaza's 8,500 residents have already left, and Mofaz told the Israeli Cabinet that he expected an additional 300 families to leave on Monday. But the army estimates that thousands remain, including some 5,000 hard-liners who have infiltrated Gaza to resist the pullout. Authorities fear some of the extremists could turn violent.

At the isolated Morag settlement, hundreds of people blocked troops at the gate. One man, identified by Israeli media as Liron Zeidan, burst into tears as he pleaded with officers not to remove him from his home.

"I am not your enemy. I served as an officer under you," the man told Brig. Gen. Erez Zuckerman, the commander of the army unit waiting at the gate.

Zuckerman listened and wiped sweat off his brow, then hugged the young man. "We love you, you are part of us," he told the assembled settlers.

In Gan Or, the army reached a deal with residents to send only a small group of senior officers to give the notices to community leaders in an effort to avoid friction.

The operation went more smoothly in the settlements of Nissanit and Elei Sinai, secular communities in northern Gaza that have virtually emptied out.

In Nissanit, four soldiers came to the home of Yitzhak and Avigail Dadon, a couple in their 70s who said they would leave before the forcible removal begins. Yitzhak Dadon said that earlier in the morning, he lowered an Israeli flag that had been fluttering from his roof. Avigail Dadon cried, and a female soldier stood up to hug her.

Two residents entered an abandoned home, took out a hammer and smashed the remaining mirrors, doors and windows. Some homes were covered in graffiti, including one that read "Sharon is a Nazi."

Soldiers also helped settlers pack. In one Nissanit home, troops removed a large sundeck next to a backyard swimming pool, pulling out planks and stacking them up in a pile.

In the Elei Sinai settlement, resident Esti Yamin clutched her eviction notice and cried. When the four-member army team left her home, she said: "They were very kind and I think they are doing all they can do."

However, one of her neighbors put lawn chairs and a TV set on the roof, where he said he would remain with his young daughter until he is removed by force. "Elei Sinai won't fall," read a large sign outside his home.

Soldiers were also giving eviction notices in four West Bank settlements slated for evacuation. They chose not to enter two of the communities, Sanur and Homesh, where hard-line extremists have holed up. The army instead planned to hand the orders to community leaders.

Israel's Cabinet met Monday and gave final approval for the removal of additional Gaza settlements in what was seen as a formality. The plan was already approved by the government and parliament during a bruising yearlong political battle.

With some 50,000 security forces involved, the "disengagement" from Gaza is the nation's largest-ever noncombat operation.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said the Gaza pullout is a "historical moment," but that Israel must also hand over the West Bank and east Jerusalem in the future.

"If they want peace, they must allow Palestinians to achieve their rights," Abbas told the British Broadcasting Corp.

The Palestinians hope the pullout from Gaza will lead to the resumption of peace talks and ultimately full independence in areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War.

But they fear the withdrawal is a ploy by Sharon to get rid of areas he doesn't consider crucial to Israel while consolidating control of parts of the West Bank, where the vast majority of the 240,000 Jewish settlers live.

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