Village Journals
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Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.
Army enters last Gaza settlement
Israeli forces are evacuating the last inhabited Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip as an eviction operation started five days ago draws to a close.
Netzarim's residents are the last of 8,500 people in 21 settlements in Gaza to be evicted under a pullout plan.
Attention will then shift to the West Bank, where four other settlements are being abandoned amid expectations of possibly violent resistance.
Troops are heading to the West Bank for the operation, due to start on Tuesday.
You have carried out this operation, which has been very difficult for you and the residents, in a way that demands respect and I thank you
Ariel Sharon thanking troops in Gaza
Residents of two West Bank settlements due to be evacuated have already left, but an estimated 2,000 activists have gathered at two others - Sanur and Homesh - and are expected to mount fierce resistance.
Skirmishes were reported on Sunday as tensions rose ahead of the operation.
Click here for a map of the Gaza settlements
Military officials believe some of the protesters have weapons and may be ready to use them, the Associated Press news agency reported.
In pictures: Pullout nears end
Pullout at-a-glance
Former Israeli intelligence chief Ami Ayalon told Israeli television that about 8% of the 230,000 settlers in the West Bank should be considered dangerous, and did not recognise the state's authority.
"They have no limits, and will do everything they can, including the use of violence," said Mr Ayalon.
The military says armed troops may be deployed to clear the two settlements, a shift from the policy in Gaza where all troops were unarmed.
'Painful situation'
Netzarim was one of the first settlements to be erected in Gaza.
The Israeli army has often blocked approach roads to the isolated settlement, which has been attacked many times by Palestinian militants.
According to the AFP news agency, some 2,000 Israeli security personnel are helping clear Netzarim.
Palestinians use the beach to bypass sealed-off Netzarim
An officer in charge of the operation told the agency he expected all settlers to have left by the afternoon, following a final mourning ceremony.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the architect of the withdrawal plan, earlier visited some of the troops involved in the emotional clearances from Gaza.
"You have carried out this operation, which has been very difficult for you and the residents, in a way that demands respect and I thank you," Mr Sharon told soldiers at the Ein Hashlosha base.
"No state in the world can be as proud of having mobilised such a force in such difficult conditions."
Many of the soldiers had prayed and wept with the settlers as they moved them out.
Mr Sharon also praised the way settlers had dealt with the operation, in what he called a "very difficult and painful situation".
Homes demolished
Israeli bulldozers began demolishing homes in four of the empty Gaza settlements on Sunday - at Nissanit and Dugit in the north, and Peat Sadeh and Ganei Tal in the south.
Bulldozers and excavators ripped through the red-tiled roofs and white-washed walls of the homes, the BBC's Jim Fish reports.
The demolition work - expected to take several weeks - is being carried out in agreement with the Palestinian Authority, which will assume responsibility for the land once the Israeli army has left.
The final departure of troops is expected within about a month, once army bases and military installations have been dismantled.
The Palestinian Authority is expected to use much of the land to build new housing for Gaza's overcrowded population.
news.bbc.co.uk
Netzarim's residents are the last of 8,500 people in 21 settlements in Gaza to be evicted under a pullout plan.
Attention will then shift to the West Bank, where four other settlements are being abandoned amid expectations of possibly violent resistance.
Troops are heading to the West Bank for the operation, due to start on Tuesday.
You have carried out this operation, which has been very difficult for you and the residents, in a way that demands respect and I thank you
Ariel Sharon thanking troops in Gaza
Residents of two West Bank settlements due to be evacuated have already left, but an estimated 2,000 activists have gathered at two others - Sanur and Homesh - and are expected to mount fierce resistance.
Skirmishes were reported on Sunday as tensions rose ahead of the operation.
Click here for a map of the Gaza settlements
Military officials believe some of the protesters have weapons and may be ready to use them, the Associated Press news agency reported.
In pictures: Pullout nears end
Pullout at-a-glance
Former Israeli intelligence chief Ami Ayalon told Israeli television that about 8% of the 230,000 settlers in the West Bank should be considered dangerous, and did not recognise the state's authority.
"They have no limits, and will do everything they can, including the use of violence," said Mr Ayalon.
The military says armed troops may be deployed to clear the two settlements, a shift from the policy in Gaza where all troops were unarmed.
'Painful situation'
Netzarim was one of the first settlements to be erected in Gaza.
The Israeli army has often blocked approach roads to the isolated settlement, which has been attacked many times by Palestinian militants.
According to the AFP news agency, some 2,000 Israeli security personnel are helping clear Netzarim.
Palestinians use the beach to bypass sealed-off Netzarim
An officer in charge of the operation told the agency he expected all settlers to have left by the afternoon, following a final mourning ceremony.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the architect of the withdrawal plan, earlier visited some of the troops involved in the emotional clearances from Gaza.
"You have carried out this operation, which has been very difficult for you and the residents, in a way that demands respect and I thank you," Mr Sharon told soldiers at the Ein Hashlosha base.
"No state in the world can be as proud of having mobilised such a force in such difficult conditions."
Many of the soldiers had prayed and wept with the settlers as they moved them out.
Mr Sharon also praised the way settlers had dealt with the operation, in what he called a "very difficult and painful situation".
Homes demolished
Israeli bulldozers began demolishing homes in four of the empty Gaza settlements on Sunday - at Nissanit and Dugit in the north, and Peat Sadeh and Ganei Tal in the south.
Bulldozers and excavators ripped through the red-tiled roofs and white-washed walls of the homes, the BBC's Jim Fish reports.
The demolition work - expected to take several weeks - is being carried out in agreement with the Palestinian Authority, which will assume responsibility for the land once the Israeli army has left.
The final departure of troops is expected within about a month, once army bases and military installations have been dismantled.
The Palestinian Authority is expected to use much of the land to build new housing for Gaza's overcrowded population.
news.bbc.co.uk
Comments on this journal
but i agree entirely, it's like everyone feeling pity for car jacker after they make him give back the car he's been using for the last 5 years, who's previous owner he shot, and he gets to keep the radio and a tex break for the car.
damn psycho's these settlers, they don't see palestinians as legitemate human beings, and their actions show this sentimate loud and clear.
Besides most of these Ex-Gaza settlers will be given the opportunity to set up settlements in the West bank soon enough... This is after each Gaza settler being given $150K US to move from the land in compensation.. win win situation for them..