Hundreds of Gaza pullout opponents barricaded themselves behind rolls of barbed wire in the synagogue of this hardline Jewish settlement yesterday, as security forces dragged screaming residents out of homes and settlers elsewhere burned houses, fields and tires in protest.
On the second day of removing settlers by force, troops encountered stiffer resistance than at the start of the operation. However, security officials said they expected to clear out all 21 Gaza settlements by Tuesday, more than two weeks ahead of schedule.
By nightfall, troops planned to have cleared out 18 of Gaza's 21 settlements, police said.
Yesterday, troops entered several of the most hardline Gaza communities.
In the farming settlement of Netzer Hazani, protesters set fire to barricades, fields and houses, sending a huge plume of black smoke into the air. Youths in Shirat Hayam, a hardline beachfront outpost, burned tires and garbage. In Neve Dekalim, Gaza's largest settlement, a standoff with hundreds of teenage extremists, continued into a second day.
There was relatively little violence in Gaza on Wednesday -- though a Jewish extremist in the West Bank shot dead four Palestinians in an apparent attempt to disrupt the Gaza pullout.
In Kfar Darom, where protesters barricaded themselves inside a synagogue, the army set up a special command center, and the army chief, Lieutenant General Dan Halutz, personally oversaw the operation. Soldiers formed several cordons around him to shield him from shouting settlers.
Thousands of soldiers had entered the settlement at dawn and quickly encircled the synagogue and two nearby buildings.
Just a few meters outside Kfar Darom, dozens of Palestinians stood on the roofs of their houses watching the evacuation.
"For the first time in the last few years I'm standing here without any fear that Israelis will shoot at me because their battle today is against themselves," said Mohammed Bashir, a Palestinian farmer.
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