Gaza homes set alight
Israeli troops face defiant settlers
AFP, Netzer Hazani
Protestors set abandoned houses ablaze and hurled eggs as Israeli forces dragged hysterical residents from their Gaza Strip homes and thousands of religious Jews took refuge in synagogues to block their forcible ejection from the Palestinian territory. "Shame on you," shrieked residents as an army bulldozer smashed its way into Netzer Hazani, the oldest settlement in the occupied Palestinian territory seized by Israel in war 38 years ago. "You don't do this to Arabs." Israeli forces, most of them unarmed, marched into five more of the 21 Gaza settlements on Thursday, the second day of its forcible evacuation of residents from the territory, a historic operation that has pitted Jew against Jew. Police also said they were poised to launch an assault in a synagogue in the largest settlement of Neve Dekalim where hundreds of young activists have been holed up. Radical youths began burning down abandoned homes in Neve Dekalim as fire-fighters fought in vain to put out the fires that sent plumes of smoke spewing into the sky. Amid scenes of chaos in Kfar Darom, one of the most defiant settler bastions, sobbing families were dragged out of homes one by one by police and soldiers who moved in after dawn. Some set fire to seats in buses laid on to transport them into Israel. Palestinians have welcomed the pullout as a victory for the resistance to four decades of Israeli occupation, while the international community hopes it will mark a new page in efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. Despite the high tensions, the withdrawal is being completed more peacefully and quickly than expected, with up to nine settlements reported empty, although potential confrontations loom with diehard settlers. In Neve Dekalim, Israeli forces gave an ultimatum to the hundreds of youths massed on the roof and balconies of the main synagogue, waving flags and protest banners. At the hardline beachside community of Shirat Hayam, residents and supporters hurled eggs at soldiers and urged them to disobey their orders while some locked themselves inside their homes or took refuge on the synagogue roof. As many has 70 percent of the estimated 8,000 settlers have left, public radio reported, although their numbers were swelled by around 5,000 infiltrators despite the settlements being declared closed military zones.
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