GAZA STRIP/ISRAEL: VIOLENCE FLARES AS ISRAELI MILITARY HOLD FLAG LOWERING CEREMONY TO MARK GAZA PULLOUT

Record ID: 400369

  • Title: GAZA STRIP/ISRAEL: VIOLENCE FLARES AS ISRAELI MILITARY HOLD FLAG LOWERING CEREMONY TO MARK GAZA PULLOUT
  • Date: 11th September 2005
  • Summary: (BN12) NEVE DEKALIM, GAZA STRIP (SEPTEMBER 11, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. PAN LINED UP SOLDIERS WAITING FOR SYMBOLIC CEREMONY TO END ISRAEL'S MILITARY RULE IN GAZA 0.23 2. CLOSE OF SOLDIER PULLL OUT ISRAELI COMMANDER ADDRESSING CROWD 0.34 3. LV/CU OF FLAG BEING LOWERED (2 SHOTS) 1.12 4. LV OF CEREMONY (2 SHOTS) 1.43 (W4) NEVE
  • Embargoed: 26th September 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEVE DEKALIM/KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA STRIP/ KISSUFIM CHECKPOINT, BETWEEN ISRAEL AND GAZA
  • City:
  • Country: Gaza Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVABQDDRY1PVCA8VSZHMPDS1QC2Z
  • Story Text: Violence flares as Israeli military hold flag
    lowering ceremony to mark Gaza pullout.


    Thousands of Palestinians gathered excitedly on the
    edge of abandoned Jewish settlements in Gaza on Sunday
    (September 11), poised to rush in as the Israeli army
    prepared to get out following decades of occupation.

    Earlier the Israeli army carried out a symbolic
    flag-lowering ceremony in the Gaza Strip ahead of the
    overnight pullout from the occupied territory.

    The Israeli flag came down at Neve Dekalim, one of the
    21 Jewish settlements the army demolished in the coastal
    territory last month under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's
    plan to "disengage" from conflict with the Palestinians.

    Violence broke out when soldiers remaining on guard
    before the withdrawal fired at youths throwing stones at
    them, wounding four.

    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
    ****(some missing text)****
    Armed militants gathered in alleyways of the Khan
    Younis refugee camp, out of sight of Israeli troops,
    waiting to surge into former settlements for "victory"
    celebrations.

    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 attacks on
    settlers by militant groups based in Khan Younis.

    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 take-over, with powerful
    militant 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.

    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.

    After dark convoys of Israeli armoured vehicles and
    tanks crossed Kissufim checkpoint and rolled into Israel,
    leaving Gaza and clearing the way to complete a troop
    pullout and hand the territory over to the Palestinians on
    Monday (September 12) after 38 years of occupation.

    Driving jeeps, tanks and armoured vehicles the troops
    crossed the Kissufim checkpoint and returned to Israel,
    moving into the final stages of a withdrawal that will
    leave the Palestinians with a volatile testing ground for
    statehood.

    A security source said the pullout could be completed
    in 12 hours.
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