Israeli Forces Pour In to Evict Settlers

Thousands of defiant Jewish settlers and their supporters faced off at dawn today with Israeli troops who poured in to evict them from the Gaza Strip in accordance with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s landmark decision to hand over the seaside territory to the Palestinians.

More than 100 military vehicles rumbled toward the settlements before daylight, and hundreds of troops fanned out on foot in the largest settlement, Neve Dekalim, where soldiers and protesters had clashed Tuesday. Settlers and their supporters set fire to trash bins, massed in the main synagogue and pleaded tearfully with soldiers to desist.

“We are here to evacuate, and we will not leave until it is empty,” said Maj. Gen. Dan Harel, the army general overseeing the Israeli withdrawal. Soldiers split into teams to go door to door, and began carrying settlers away.

At the seaside settlement of Shirat Hayam, teenage protesters erected a makeshift barricade of tires, bricks and debris. A settlement spokeswoman, Hana Picards, told journalists, “No family has packed or has plans to pack.... I still believe in a miracle, that this won’t happen.”

First light at Neve Dekalim also brought emotional scenes. A weeping settler in her 30s engaged an army lieutenant colonel in ragged conversation, telling him again and again, “This is insane, this is immoral.... We’re supposed to be on the same side.”

The officer explained that the withdrawal was a democratic decision and soldiers had to carry it out.

After the midnight deadline to leave, or be forcibly removed, settlers and their supporters flocked to synagogues and danced around the Torah in a display of their fervent belief that Gaza was given by God to the Jewish people. Sharon’s government says there is no choice but to relinquish the territory, where settlers have lived in fortress-like enclaves surrounded by more than 1.3 million Palestinians.

On Tuesday, hours ahead of the deadline, hundreds of protesters clashed with police and soldiers at Neve Dekalim. About 50 demonstrators, mostly young people from West Bank settlements, were detained.

The melee marked the most serious confrontation between authorities and activists since Israel launched its effort to withdraw from Gaza after 38 years and hand the area to Palestinian control. The pullout, months in the making, was set in motion early Monday when Israeli troops arrived bearing eviction notices for settlers.

Demonstrators burned tires and piles of trash, hurled paint-filled balloons, scuffled with troops and blocked army vehicles with their bodies. “Shame on you!” they shouted at soldiers who dragged them away, holding them by their arms and legs. One police officer suffered eye injuries when a protester hurled fluid containing bleach in his face.

As midnight approached, hundreds of troops entered Neve Dekalim in a final bid to persuade residents to leave on their own. “We’re going house to house, urging people to get out,” Harel said.

About half of the 8,500 settlers were thought to have left by the deadline, but about 5,000 outside protesters were believed to be holed up in Gaza, living in tent camps and abandoned buildings. Authorities have said they believe the demonstrators are more likely than resident settlers to resort to violent resistance.

“We will try to use the minimum necessary force,” said Eival Giladi, Sharon’s point man on the withdrawal. “I will say this: We will treat [protesters] differently than we treat those families which have been here for 20 or 30 years.”

Giladi called the withdrawal “a difficult moment for us all.” He pledged that those who left willingly would receive help with jobs and housing. “For those who choose to stay after midnight,” he added, “the security forces are prepared.”

In some settlements, a rift between longtime residents and protesters was noticeable. In Netzer Hazani, protesters swarmed outside a house where an army general was talking with settlement leaders about the logistics of departure. Finally one resident told the demonstrators to go away.

“We are doing everything to isolate and track down these youths and to get them out of here, because they are the ones behind provocation and violence here,” said Aharon Franko, commander of police forces operating at Neve Dekalim.

Protesters warned that they would not shy from confrontation.

“There’s going to be a clash, and it’s not going to be a pleasant sight,” said Yehuda Etzion, 27.

More settlers departed Tuesday, although the protesters hampered efforts to bring in moving vans and shipping containers. Troops, sweating in the sun, helped dozens of settlers pack and load their belongings.

Even among some settlers who had vowed that they would have to be dragged from their homes, there was a growing acceptance of the inevitable. The isolated settlement of Morag, considered an ideological stronghold, held an emotional farewell ceremony for those who were leaving. Troops who had guarded the settlement were invited to participate, and all sang the national anthem together.

“I fell apart when I started to pack up,” said Ziona Atia, who prepared to leave before the deadline with her husband and five children. One young couple drove out of the settlement, their back seat piled high with belongings and the woman wiping away tears.

Departing settlers stripped homes of anything of value, including doors, windows and fixtures, giving the once-tidy communities a ramshackle look. A few bitter and angry settlers set their homes on fire; one man was injured as he torched his house.

Because they did not wish to appear to be cooperating with the pullout, many settlers did not enter into negotiations about new housing with the government agency overseeing the evacuation. Authorities rented 2,000 hotel rooms to accommodate those who agreed to leave only at the last minute.

Settlers who stay beyond the deadline stand to lose up to one-third of the compensation the government is offering -- a loss that could amount to tens of thousands of dollars.

Graphics designer Aharon Shevo, whose son is among those vowing to stay, said the money didn’t matter.

“Belief is stronger than anything else,” he said.

Army officials, who wanted to maintain an element of surprise, refused to say beforehand which settlements the troops would empty first.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said field commanders would be given considerable leeway based on the conditions they encountered.

The military appeared to be accelerating its timetable for completing the withdrawal; though the evacuation was first expected to take a month, the Haaretz newspaper quoted a senior army officer as saying the Gaza pullout could be over within 10 days. Giladi, from the prime minister’s office, said it could take two weeks -- “maybe a bit less or a bit more.”

In an effort to conclude the pullout in an orderly way, troops are to stay on in the settlements for about six weeks once the residents are gone, and will work on dismantling their bases and demolishing homes. But Israeli authorities were increasingly worried that Palestinians would try before then to surge into the settlement blocks.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Korei told his Cabinet that he was forming eight teams to coordinate the takeover of settlement land, including representatives of the militant Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements.

About 40,000 Israeli troops and 10,000 police officers are playing some part in the evacuation, whether dealing directly with settlers or securing miles of desert roads leading to Gaza. It is Israel’s largest noncombat military operation ever.

Even with the withdrawal in motion, legal battles continued. The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered Israeli authorities not to dismantle any synagogues before Thursday.

Palestinian militant groups again staged victory celebrations just outside the settlements Tuesday, and Israeli authorities were worried about a confrontation if the marchers got too close. Some boys tried to scale the Neve Dekalim wall with Palestinian and Hamas flags.

A Hamas march in the town of Khan Yunis drew thousands of participants. “The liberation of Gaza today is only a first step on the way to liberating all the sands of Palestine,” said Younis Astal, a Hamas leader in southern Gaza.

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Security strategy

In its biggest noncombat military operation, Israel is mustering 40,000 soldiers as well as 10,000 police officers to oversee the evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip. The forces will be deployed in six successively wider areas.

1) About 4,000 unarmed troops directly contact and evacuate settlers.

2) Troops surround each settlement, prepared for crowd control.

3) Soldiers and police serve as a buffer between settlements and nearby Palestinian population centers.

4) Troops secure roads leading to settlements being evacuated.

5) Combat troops stationed on the Israel-Gaza border respond to any attacks by Palestinian militants.

6) Armored forces and fighter aircraft reportedly back up the fifth-area troops in the event of heavy fighting.

Sources: Israeli police, Times sources

Ellingwood reported from Netzer Hazani and King from Jerusalem. Times staff writer Shlomi Simhi in Neve Dekalim and special correspondent Vita Bekker in Shirat Hayam contributed to this report.

Updated coverage of today’s developments in Gaza, with photographs, can be found at latimes.com/gaza