Protesters dig in as Gaza pullout begins

GAZA CITY - Jewish protesters set fire to cars, houses and possessions and scores blocked the largest Jewish settlement as soldiers began posting eviction notices in the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Furious settlers smashed car windows and set fire to tyres in Neve Dekalim after the Israeli Army declared a formal start to the pullout operation. Protesters also tried to slash the tyres of a military vehicle.

The unrest came as the Army formally outlawed the continued presence of settlers in the territory after a 38-year occupation.

Later, hundreds of settlers, many praying, blocked the main gates of Gaza's largest Jewish settlement in an attempt to prevent soldiers from entering to deliver 48-hour eviction notices.

Troops mostly held back as defiant settlers used makeshift barricades and their bodies in a bid to prevent an operation paving the way for Israel's disengagement.

In the Morag enclave, a woman with a toddler in her arms pleaded tearfully with an Army officer: "Don't do this to us".

"A lot of blood was spilled on this holy land," said settler Chaim Gross in Morag. "It was presented to Abraham for the Jews and we are not going to leave it."

Settlers called over loudspeakers for soldiers to disobey orders to serve eviction notices on the settlers.

Formal eviction notices were to be handed out to remaining settlers. The Army will begin forcibly evacuating residents of the 21 settlements from Wednesday.

Efforts by officials from Yesha, the main settlers' lobby, to calm the crowds went unheeded and journalists were assaulted by irate youths.

Meanwhile, a sound technician from French television channel France 3 was kidnapped at gunpoint outside his hotel in Gaza City by three gunmen and bundled into a waiting car before being driven off, sources said.

It was the latest in a series of abductions in Gaza in recent weeks and comes just three days after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas ordered security services to protect foreign workers in the Gaza Strip.

The kidnappings have been extremely embarrassing for the Palestinian Authority, which is trying to prove it can keep law and order after Israel completes its withdrawal from Gaza.

One makeshift rocket also slammed into Neve Dekalim yesterday and another hit Gadid, but no one was injured.

Militants have largely observed a truce agreed by Abbas and Israel in February.

Israel sealed off access to Jewish settlements in Gaza and settlers will have until Wednesday to leave.

Eviction notices to the 9000 settlers in all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four of 120 in the West Bank went into effect at 9am NZT, setting the clock ticking on a 48-hour grace period to cross into Israel.

Troops closed the Kissufim border crossing, the only active entrance to Gaza since Israel imposed a partial military closure on the territory weeks ago to ward off right-wing Jews from infiltrating to try and help the settlers resist the evacuation.

"Stop. Entry into the Gaza Strip and presence there is forbidden by law! August 15, 2005," read a sign the military posted at the crossing.

The pullout, claimed by Palestinian militants as a victory and decried by Israeli opponents, is seen by Washington as a catalyst for renewed peacemaking.

Hundreds of Gaza settlers have signed state compensation deals to leave the territory ahead of an August 17 deadline, but the Army said about 5000 opponents of the pullout have slipped into the enclaves to boost resistance.

Troops planned to knock on the doors of the homes of the Gaza settlers later in the day to tell them, in an operation the Army dubbed "Brotherly Hand", that they have 48 hours to evacuate their homes before forces start removing them.

The World Court views Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, occupied territories where 3.8 million Palestinians live, as illegal.

Israel disputes this and many settlers claim the territories as their biblical birthright.

Palestinians welcome the pullout but fear Israel will tighten its hold on the West Bank, where Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to strengthen the major settlements with approval of the United States.

Washington hopes the pullout plan will lead to renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

The Gaza Strip

South Gaza: Gush Katif

A bloc of 17 settlements resembling tile-roofed suburbs, each fenced off and linked by roads within a larger area ringed by Israeli troops, tanks and watchtowers. Gush Katif is comprised of:Neve Dekalim. Hardline enclave with 2671 people, founded in 1983. Administrative seat of Gaza settlements.

Kfar Darom, 491 inhabitants, set up 1970. Outlying ultranationalist enclave especially vulnerable to Palestinian attacks. Toughest resistance to evacuation likely here after influx of radical Jews.

Shirat Hayam, 40 people in bungalows or prefab containers on beach, founded 2000.

Bnei Atzmon, 646 people, established 1978 by religious nationalists. Has Army training academy.

Gadid, 351 people, founded 1982. Many French immigrants.

Ganei Tal, 400 people, founded 1979; Katif, 404, formed 1985; Netzer Hazani, 461, established 1973.

Morag, 221 people, created 1972. Religious, hardline communal farm.

Gan Or, founded 1983, 351 people, mainly graduates of Jewish seminaries mixing religious study with military service.

Bedolah, 219 people, founded 1986. Houses painted orange - colour of settler resistance movement.

Rafiah Yam, 143 secular people, founded 1984. Most residents have departed.

Pe'at Sadeh, 110 people, founded 1989. Emptied last week.

Tel Katif, 60 people, beachfront enclave created in 1992.

Selav, 50 people, was military base in 1980, converted into settlement in 2001.

Kerem Atzmona, 24 people, founded 2001.

Kfar Yam, 10 inhabitants on beach, founded 1983.

Central Gaza

Netzarim. Isolated religious ultranationalist enclave of 496 people, founded 1972. Reachable only in armoured buses on single road from Israel. Corridor road often hit by militants.

North Gaza

Nissanit, 1064 people, largest of three moderate secular enclaves abutting Israeli border. Founded 1982 by Sinai evacuees. Most inhabitants have left.

Eli Sinai, 407 people. Next to Nissanit, created in 1983. Most have relocated to Israel. Founding resident Avi Farhan says he and some other families want to stay under Palestinian rule.

Dugit, 79 people. Created by three families in 1990 from veteran Gush Emunim (Bloc of the Faithful) settler movement. Emptied by voluntary evacuation this month.

West Bank

Sanur, 105 mainly secular residents, many Russian-born artists, founded 1977. Most intend to go voluntarily. Recent influx of hundreds of radical Jews bent on fighting evacuation.

Homesh, 228 people, founded 1980. Mixed secular and religious community. Most expected to leave willingly.

Ganim, Kadim. Isolated twin settlements, combined population 340. Most of the mainly secular inhabitants already relocated to Israel, with rest expected to leave willingly.

- REUTERS