Thousands of Israeli troops moved into the Gaza settlements overnight for the start of a historic operation to remove the remaining Jewish families from their homes and transfer the territory to Palestinian control.
The deployment for what the military calls Israel’s largest ever non-combat operation got under way hours after police and soldiers confronted hundreds of militant young Jews in the largest settlement, Neve Dekalim, who tried to prevent families from leaving by the midnight deadline after which they faced arrest and forcible removal.
The standoff accentuated a deepening fissure between the settlers, many of whom are resigned to leaving in an orderly manner, and thousands of ultra-nationalist youngsters from outside the Gaza colonies who are threatening mayhem and sabotage to delay the withdrawal.
The army has set a September 4 deadline to clear the settlements, the first time that Israel has uprooted Jewish communities built on land occupied in 1967 and widely recognised as likely to be part of a future Palestinian state.
But the military hopes to complete the operation quicker after the pullout’s coordinator, former general Eival Giladi, said at least half of the 1 500 families once resident in the settlements had already left by Tuesday evening.
”I would say that in a few days, there will be no settlers or infiltrators left in Gaza,” Giladi said.
The army said five of the 25 settlements in Gaza and the northern West Bank targeted for demolition were already empty on Tuesday. Several others were holding mournful departure ceremonies.
In the small settlements of Pe’at Sadeh and Gan Or, the owners of four houses torched their homes rather than leave them to the Palestinians, even though all private property is to be demolished before the handover.
Others painted slogans on their walls as they left denouncing Ariel Sharon as a traitor to the settlers for having championed their cause for decades then become the first Israeli prime minister to remove settlements from the Palestinian territories.
But Sharon received support elsewhere. His office said that he had received a letter from British Prime Minister Tony Blair praising the pullout.
”I greatly admire the courage with which you have developed and implemented this policy. I believe you are right to see disengagement as a historic opportunity to pursue a better future for Israelis and Palestinians,” wrote Blair.
The military has not announced the order in which the settlements will be cleared but army radio reported on Tuesday night that the first would be Neve Dekalim, which has become the focus of resistance to Sharon’s ”disengagement plan” by an estimated 5 000 young militants who have infiltrated the Gaza settlements.
They include several hundred messianic teenagers from Israel’s West Bank colonies, known as the ”hilltop youth”, who openly defy the law in the name of religion and ultranationalism.
Israeli soldiers were visible on the streets of Neve Dekalim on Tuesday night as many settlers packed their belongings ready to leave.
The police moved in earlier in the day, cutting open the heavy steel main gate after it was blocked by the young protesters to prevent the arrival and departure of furniture vans and container lorries moving out settler families.
About 50 activists were arrested after they dragged communal rubbish bins into the street and set them alight, and assaulted the police with eggs and paint-filled balloons.
The protest was broken as hundreds of police officers moved in and cleared a route for the lorries. But their restraint was tested after a young man threw what appeared to be ammonia into the eyes of a policeman who was led away unable to see.
A water cannon was brought up to put out the fires but it was not used against protesters. By the afternoon, many settler families were loading their possessions on to the removal lorries even though some said they would remain until they were forcibly removed by the army.
The young ultra-nationalists took to haranguing the security forces guarding the lorries. Some soldiers looked bored as their loyalty to Israel was questioned or they were read long religious tracts by intense young men.
But the pleading moved other soldiers, some of whom fell weeping into settlers’ arms, an element emphasised by much of the Israeli press and the government in its bid to portray the withdrawal as a national trauma.
Settler leaders privately appealed to the police to deal with young militants, saying they did not obey orders and that blood might be spilled if the protests escalate.
Israel’s Defence Minister, Shaul Mofaz, on Tuesday said the army would not tolerate disorder.
”We will make every effort, the army and the police, in order to have law and order in this process and anyone who acts illegally will be treated according to the law,” he said.
Some of the young militants retreated into the local synagogues and religious schools in preparation for a last stand.
There they found the long-term residents of Neve Dekalim dedicating a new Torah scroll as a symbol of continuation and a new ritual bath, still under construction but with little hope of completion, was opened to singing and dancing.
Neve Dekalim’s supermarket remained open on Tuesday, although its shelves were nearly bare and the owner said he would no longer accept cheques. The post office was shut with a notice on the door: ”The post office is closed in expectation of redemption.” – Guardian Unlimited Â