Soldiers Use Force, Persuasion in Gaza Settler Evacuation

Sharon, a chief architect of the settlement movement, has said he is evacuating Gaza to give Israel more defensible borders and protect the viability of its Jewish majority from a fast-growing Arab population between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Gaza, where 8,500 Jewish settlers have lived amid 1.3 million Palestinians, is envisioned as part of a future Palestinian state that would also include the West Bank. The Israeli army is scheduled to evacuate four smaller settlements on the northern West Bank once the Gaza withdrawal is complete.

Sharon's plan has generated enormous opposition from a religious-nationalist movement whose adherents say it is wrong to relinquish land described in the Bible as part of Israel. In addition, many secular Israelis contend that giving up Gaza without Palestinian concessions sends a message of weakness to radical Palestinian groups such as Islamic Jihad and the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas.

The Palestinian Authority's president, Mahmoud Abbas, whose mainstream Fatah movement has lost political ground to Hamas, also fears that the Islamic movements that refuse to recognize Israel's right to exist may benefit from the perception that their rocket attacks and suicide bombings helped drive out the Israeli army.

In a news conference Wednesday in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, Hamas leader Khaled Mashal vowed to continue the group's armed campaign against Israel once the evacuation is complete. Mashal usually speaks from Damascus, the Syrian capital, but he said he chose Beirut to deliver his remarks to emphasize that guerrilla attacks also drove Israel out of Lebanon five years ago without a peace agreement.

"The weapon of the resistance is a legitimate one," Mashal said, referring to Hamas's military wing. "The departure of the enemy from Gaza does not mean the end of the occupation. So the resistance will continue."

Islamic Jihad, meanwhile, staged a celebration of Israel's evacuation at the sea off Gaza City. About 40 boats bobbed off the coast bearing the group's black flag, while 300 masked gunmen paraded in military formation on the beach. "Our enemy should understand that the state of Palestine is not Gaza," said Abu Walid, a senior Islamic Jihad commander. "It's from the river to the sea."

In the settlements where opposition to the evacuation runs deepest, residents used Holocaust imagery to demoralize soldiers. Some here in Neve Dekalim and in Kerem Atzmona wore orange Star of David emblems, recalling the yellow stars the Nazis required Jews to wear.

Amid the taunts and prayers, soldiers appeared uncertain at times about how to carry out their mission. Some broke down weeping as they worked to evacuate houses in front of angry, surging crowds.

"We're trying to do this with patience, gently," said Maj. Dov Godinger of the Shachar Battalion, one of the units working inside this settlement. "We could have this place evacuated in 10 minutes if we used all of our force. But we are trying to do this as carefully as possible, giving everyone a chance to get out on their own."

Special correspondent Samuel Sockol in Kerem Atzmona contributed to this report.