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Palestinians prepare for victory celebrations
Photo: AFP

Palestinians set to storm settlements

Thousands of Palestinians gather excitedly on edge of abandoned Jewish settlements in Gaza on Sunday, poised to rush in as the Israeli army prepared to get out following decades of occupation; Palestinian says, ‘It’s going to be a sleepless night. We will be watching them until the moment they are gone and then we will all go in’

Thousands of Palestinians gathered excitedly on the edge of abandoned Jewish settlements in Gaza on Sunday, poised to rush in as the Israeli army prepared to get out following decades of occupation.

 

Violence broke out when soldiers remaining on guard before the slated overnight withdrawal fired at youths throwing stones at them, wounding four as Israeli generals conducted a flag-lowering ceremony in a nearby demolished settlement.

 

Earlier, troops had fired into the air from time to time to keep growing crowds back from fences dividing the ex-Gush Katif settlement bloc from the Palestinian city of Khan Younis.

 

“Do whatever you like; fire as much as you can. We don’t care, since it’s your last day here!” a Palestinian teenager shouted ebulliently at troops beyond the razor-wire fence cutting through sand dunes in the southern Gaza Strip.

 

Armed terrorists gathered in alleyways of the Khan Younis refugee camp, out of sight of Israeli troops, waiting to surge into former settlements for “Victory” celebrations.

 

Residents clambered atop roofs of the cinderblock refugee quarter for a bird’s eye view of the settlement area, bulldozed by the army, and the glinting Mediterranean Sea just beyond - out of bounds to local Palestinians for decades.

 

They saw smoke rising from the ex-Neve Dekalim enclave where troops were blowing up remaining army posts and infrastructure.

 

“We are full of happiness and impatient to see the Israelis rolling out of our area for good. It will be our happiest day in decades,” said Sami Abu-Akar, 35, one of a lively crowd where sweets were being handed out for the occasion.

 

“It’s going to be a sleepless night. We will be watching them until the moment they are gone and then we will all go in.”

 

Palestinians were assembling in a devastated strip of sand and rubble where, until recently, they could have been shot on sight by Israeli troops alert for stealthy attacks on settlers by terror groups based in Khan Younis.

 

Anticipation replaces fear

 

But since Israel evacuated 8,500 settlers from Gaza last month, razed their houses and began dismantling military posts, Palestinians have dared to enter the desolate buffer strip every day in anticipation of an end to 38 years of occupation.

 

Their numbers have swelled in the countdown to the final pullout but their impatience has occasionally proved fatal - edgy Israeli troops have shot dead two Palestinians in the past week for trying to slice through the fences.

 

Ragged Palestinian security forces, having struggled to keep restless youths out of harm’s way, admit it will be hard to prevent a rush into the settlements when the last troops leave.

 

Many fear a tumultuous takeover, with powerful terror groups planning to stage their own “victory” marches that could overshadow official Palestinian Authority celebrations.

 

Palestinian security commanders moving men and equipment into position for the handover urged restraint on civilians, but did not seem too concerned about what might happen.

 

“My men are feeling great; I can already see tears of joy in their eyes. It is our big day, the day of every Palestinian,” said Maher Zeyara, a national security force commander.

 

“We have suffered from their presence and occupation for so long and now it is time that we feel comfortable in our home,” said Sharif Assadiq, 27, part of the gathering crowd.

 

“From tomorrow when they leave, we will have better jobs, checkpoints will be gone and border crossings will be freer.”

 

Israel extracted all 8,500 settlers from Gaza and a few hundred among 240,000 in the West Bank under a limited pullout billed as “disengagement” from conflict with Palestinians.

 

It was Israel’s first dismantling of settlements on land it captured in the 1967 war and which Palestinians want for a state. But Israel aims to keep larger settler blocs in the West Bank. Some 3.8 million Palestinians live in the two territories.

 


פרסום ראשון: 09.11.05, 20:11
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