– Gaza Withdrawal...will it bring peace?

Israeli forces, protesters clash in Gaza settlement
By Jonathan Saul

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Israeli security forces clashed with protesters in the largest Gaza settlement on Tuesday in the run-up to the midnight deadline for Jews to leave the occupied territory.

Soldiers and police trying to take control of Neve Dekalim, a flashpoint of resistance against Israel's first uprooting of settlements on land Palestinians want for a state, dragged away more than 50 youths, some kicking, punching and cursing.

The scuffles, the most violent since the army issued a 48-hour eviction notice to Gaza settlers, were wreathed in smoke as hundreds of demonstrators trying to block moving vans entering the enclave burned piles of rubbish on the main street.

"Where is the Jewish heart?" one youngster cried as four soldiers carried him away, each grabbing a limb.

Protesters pelted troops with eggs, stones and paint-filled balloons. One settler woman lay down sobbing in front of a bulldozer. A few people were left with bloodied faces.

Officials vowed to do whatever was necessary to clear the way for settlers leaving under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for "disengaging" from conflict with Palestinians. Anyone left after midnight can be removed by force.

"We do not intend to blink," said Brig.-Gen. Miri Regev, chief military spokeswoman. "If there is no choice, the police will arrest all of the lawbreakers."

With forced evacuations due to begin on Wednesday, many settlers packed up trucks and joined an exodus that Israel says will mark the end of its 38-year occupation of the Gaza Strip.

Dugit, a largely secular settlement on the northern edge of the strip, became the first Gaza enclave completely evacuated when the last of its 79 residents left on Tuesday.

"All of Gush Katif is in mourning," settler Gilad Meimon said as he waited in a vehicle loaded with family belongings to leave Gaza's largest Jewish settlement bloc.

But hardline settlers vowed to stay put on land they believe was bequeathed to the Jewish people by God. Security officials fear a hard core of ultranationalists, including 5,000 who had infiltrated the settlements in recent weeks, could turn violent.

The Neve Dekalim melee began after soldiers used a power saw to cut through the main gate early on Tuesday. Youths arrested in the demonstration became the first to be expelled from Gaza since the pullout began, though most were released in Israel.

Elsewhere, settlers set fire to tires and several cars. A man in the Gan-Or settlement burned himself while torching his house and was taken to a hospital in Israel.

FORMER SETTLER CHAMPION

In a televised address on Monday, Sharon, once the settlers' champion but now reviled by them as a traitor, told Gaza's 8,500 Jewish settlers he shared their pain but also understood the plight of 1.4 million Palestinians in the coastal strip.

"We cannot hold on to Gaza forever," he said.

Eviction warnings to the 9,000 settlers in all 21 settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank went into effect at midnight on Sunday.

Sharon, whose plan is shown to have majority support in Israeli opinion polls, said Israel was prepared to make peace but he threatened Palestinians with Israel's harshest response should they attack once the settlers had been evacuated.

Palestinian militants claim the withdrawal as a victory and Israeli opponents decry it as a surrender to violence, while Washington sees it as a catalyst for renewed peacemaking.

Continuing almost daily Palestinian celebrations, a rally organized by the militant group Hamas drew 4,000 people in the town of Khan Younis, adjacent to heavily fortified Neve Dekalim.

Palestinians welcome Israel's withdrawal from land captured in the 1967 Middle East war. However, they fear Sharon devised the plan as a ruse to cement Israel's hold on most of the West Bank, where 230,000 settlers and 2.4 million Palestinians live.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said it was estimated that 50 percent or more of settlers in Gaza and West Bank enclaves slated for dismantling would leave by the deadline. Those who must be forced out could lose a third of their state compensation, ranging from $150,000 to $400,000 per family.

The order in which the settlements will be evacuated was being kept secret until the last moment for security reasons.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper quoted an unidentified senior army officer as saying the military hoped to complete the evacuations within 10 days, ahead of a September 4 target date.

Mofaz said the Palestinians would not be allowed in until after the army leaves, about four weeks after the settlers.

The World Court describes Israeli settlements as illegal. Israel disputes this.