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Palestinians sweep in as Israel abandons Gaza

Posted on: Sunday, 11 September 2005, 23:50 CDT

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Jubilant Palestinians charged into Gaza's abandoned Jewish settlements, planting flags on the rubble and firing in the air on Monday as Israeli troops ended a 38-year presence.

"This is a day of happiness and joy that the Palestinian people have not witnessed for a century," President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters in Gaza City.

Thousands of Palestinian security men waving victory signs took over as Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles trundled out, for the first time giving up settlements on land that Palestinians want for a state.

Shortly after sunrise, Israeli soldiers closed the gates of the main crossing to the abandoned settlements.

"The mission has been completed," said Brigadier Aviv Kochavi. "Israel's presence of 38 years has come to an end."

Attacking symbols of the hated Israeli occupation, youths set ablaze several of the synagogues left behind in the 21 settlements evacuated last month under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to "disengage" from conflict.

The withdrawal is likely to win Sharon international accolades when he addresses the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday. Washington hopes it will revive peacemaking.

But while Palestinians welcome the pullout, they fear Sharon is trading Gaza, home to 1.4 million Palestinians, for permanent hold on larger areas of the occupied West Bank where 245,000 Jewish settlers live isolated from 2.4 million Arabs.

Palestinians are also angry that Israel, citing security reasons, will continue to control Gaza's border crossings, air space and waters and say the occupation is far from over.

Celebrating in the former settlements, some Palestinians chanted "Allahu Akhbar" (God is greatest) and held up pictures of dead militants. Some kissed the ground. Others scampered down to pristine beaches they could not reach for years.

"Today is the happiest day in my life," said Jawad Abu Lafi, 50, after praying amid the rubble of one former settlement.

Israeli troops cheered and hugged each other as they crossed out of Gaza, scene of some of the worst violence since an uprising blew up in 2000. Military flares and fireworks launched by celebrating Palestinians lit up the desert strip.

STATEHOOD TEST

The poor territory is a volatile testing ground for statehood.

President Abbas's first task will be to enforce law and order in the Gaza Strip and rein in powerful militant groups which refuse to disarm. Israel has threatened massive retaliation if attacks from Gaza continue.

"We will not tolerate their ineptitude, turn a blind eye to their failures or ignore acts of terror. They will not be able to shirk their responsibility," said Halutz.

Militants were among the first to scramble into the settlements, trying to plant their faction's flags on the highest ground. At Abbas's behest, militants kept to a seven-month-old ceasefire to smooth the Israeli pullout.

"Four years of our resistance have done more than 10 years of negotiations," said one masked militant from the Islamic Hamas group inside a settlement.

Rightist Israeli opponents of the withdrawal had called the evacuation of Gaza's 8,500 settlers a capitulation to the militants. Many settlers saw Gaza as a biblical birthright, but most Israelis were happy to abandon it.

Like most twists in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the pullout was marred by dispute and recriminations.

Palestinians were unhappy at a last minute decision by Israel's cabinet not to level 19 settlement synagogues, unlike settlers' homes demolished in last month's evacuation.

The Palestinian Authority accused Israel of trying to saddle it with the blame if Jewish houses of worship were wrecked. Abbas said that since all religious symbols had been removed from the synagogues, they were no different to other buildings.

"They will all be destroyed," said his aide, Jibril Rajoub.

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Netzarim, Diala Saadeh in Nissanit, Dan Williams in Kissufim, Jonathan Saul in Kerem Shalom, Corinne Heller in Jerusalem. Writing by Matthew Tostevin in Jerusalem)

Source: REUTERS

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