Troops bust settlers' barrier as marching order looms

NEVE DEKALIM - Israeli troops seized the entrance to the largest Gaza settlement yesterday in a bid to quell resistance as Jews in the occupied territory were given a last chance to leave or be forcibly removed.

Soldiers used a power saw to cut through the main iron gate at Neve Dekalim, a bastion of hardline protest against the first uprooting of Jewish enclaves on land Palestinians want for a state.

"The only way is out," Eival Giladi, strategic co-ordinator in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office, told reporters after Army officers with 48-hour eviction notices confronted and consoled shouting and tearful settlers.

Taking heed of the warning, many settlers packed up trucks and shipping containers and joined an exodus that Israel says will mark the end of its 38-year occupation of the Gaza Strip.

"All of Gush Katif is in mourning," said settler Gilad Meimon as he waited in a vehicle loaded with family belongings to leave Gaza's largest Jewish settlement bloc forever.

The scene was emotional and heated at times, but soldiers did their best to avoid confrontation, even as residents shouted in their faces.

"This is a stupid order," one man in the settlement of Morag yelled at an Israeli Army commander, who responded by hugging the settler.

In a show of force, police cleared away protesters who had blocked the gate at Neve Dekalim. The Army said it would not tolerate such protests.

But signs of defiance remained in Gaza enclaves, where many settlers vowed to stay put on land they believe was bequeathed to the Jewish people by God.

Security officials fear that a hard core of ultranationalists, including some of the 5000 who had infiltrated the settlements in recent weeks, could turn violent.

Protesters set fire to tyres at Elei Sinai, and police said 500 people had been arrested overnight trying to slip into Gush Katif from Israel.

In a televised address, Mr Sharon, once the settlers' champion but now reviled by them as a traitor, told Gaza's 8500 Jewish settlers that he shared their pain but also understood the plight of 1.4 million Palestinians in the coastal strip.

Residents of all 21 settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank have until today to leave peacefully.