Palestinians celebrate
Photo: AP
Destroyed settlements is 'greatest joy'
Palestinians in neighborhoods surrounding settlements being destroyed by Israel speak of their happiness at seeing Israeli homes go
In the Palestinian neighborhoods close to Dugit, residents watch the bulldozers work, and find it hard to believe that Jewish homes are being destroyed this time.
“I’ll start to believe when the last soldiers leave, but even then it’ll take time to digest it,” said Azti, a cabdriver. After 38 years, not only can he not believe that Israel is leaving, but also that the red roofs of the settlements will soon disappear from the scenery.
End of an era
By Ronny Sofer
Residents in last Gaza Strip settlement gather in synagogue for final prayer session before evacuation; officials say several families intend to offer passive resistance. Meanwhile, police start to dismantle Gaza evacuation headquarters
Gaza City was in a celebratory mode, as Palestine flags adorned the electricity polls. The Palestinian Authority has declared all out war on the flags of the various factions and their accompanying slogans, which have taken over every free meter on the streets.
Only Palestinian flags and the official slogans are allowed. But Hamas did not take long to find a solution: its flags and slogans were distributed to private homes and vehicles. ‘The withdrawal from Hamas is only the start of the end of the occupation,’ says one, legal sign.
‘Gaza now, Jerusalem later,’ reads another. The most visible of Hamas signs read, ‘4 years of sacrifice got more than 20 years of negotiations.’
Debris filled road
The road to the settlements in northern Gaza is still filled with debris, the result of years of fighting involving tanks and armored vehicles. In the Hawasa neighborhood, locals stand on the roofs and watch the destruction of abandoned homes in Dugit. “It is difficult for us to describe our mood,” said Muhammad Shurafa, as he watches the bulldozers. “It’s fantastic seeing them destroy the thing that destroyed our lives. There is no greater pleasure and joy than this.”
Muhammad, who works at a gas station, remembers the days the bulldozers approached his home too. “Tens, and maybe hundreds of homes were ruined in Bet Lahi. People were cleared from their homes for fear that they would be destroyed. And now the Israelis are leaving, and destroying their settlements. Who would have believed it.”
Palestinians in the are already summing up an era. One speaks of a son who was killed, another of a family that disappeared, three dead there, four there, and a home with injured people. Everyone has their own story. The children talk mostly about soccer, and of how the fear has ended. “We’ll go to school and we’ll have fun, now I feel like learning,” said one youth in Bet Lahi, who added that now children would be able to concentrate on their studies, and not on mortars and explosions.
