The Israeli army early Monday completed its pullout from the Gaza Strip after 38 years of occupation. Military convoys started rolling out of the Strip around 1 A.M. on Monday and flag-waving Palestinian police took over the abandoned positions.
Palestinian officers moved into what was once the largest Jewish settlement, Neveh Dekalim, where the Israeli army had left its headquarters behind for Palestinian use.
South of Gaza City, buses carrying Palestinian policemen moved toward the abandoned Netzarim settlement. The convoy was accompanied by bulldozers and cars packed with cheering Palestinians. PA security forces have also moved into two demolished settlements in northern Gaza Strip and the former settlements of Netzer Hazani, Ganei Tal and Morag in southern of the Strip, Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa said.
"Today is a day of joy and happiness that our people were deprived of in the past century," said Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, adding that the Palestinians still have a long path toward statehood. According to The AP, he denounced Israeli rule in Gaza as "aggression, injustice, humiliation, killing and settlement activity."
Abbas added that Israel had yet to fulfill its duties regarding the implementation of the Gaza Strip withdrawal, and that the Gaza Strip still remained "one large prison" despite the absence of Israeli soldiers. "What we need is an independent viable Palestinian state, territorially integrated," Abbas stated.
At a press conference, Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Mohammad Dahlan told reporters that Israel had unilaterally closed the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt and dismantled most of the terminals' equipment, despite the fact that it had previously agreed to third-party supervision at the crossing.
Due to the new arrangement, Palestinians coming from Egypt wishing to enter Gaza will be required to travel to "Kerem Shalom," through which Israel had agreed to the transport of merchandise in and out of Gaza Strip, where they will be issued a travel permit, and then continue to the Erez checkpoint and into Gaza, according to Haaretz. Dahlan added but it is unacceptable "that a Palestinian will have to travel 120 kilometers to request an Israeli permit to enter Gaza through the Erez terminal."
He also added that the Erez checkpoint was not situated in the correct location according to 1967 boundaries, and accused Israel of threatening not to remove the settlement rubble until the new passage policy is accepted.
Abbas has asked the international community to intervene and compel Israel to fulfill its commitments.
"Today is the beginning of a new era. The battle is still ahead of us. Gaza is only the first step," said Mohammed al-Hindi, the leader of the Islamic Jihad movement. "The beginning will be when we liberate Jerusalem and the West Bank."
Meanwhile, during the celebrations Palestinians bulldozed and torched three abandoned synagogue buildings. Jewish settlers had taken the torah scrolls from the synagogues as well as prayer books and other holy items, symbolizing the end of the use of these buildings as places of worship.
On his part, Palestinian president Abbas on Monday dismissed reports about the destruction of synagogues. "They left empty buildings that used to be temples, but they removed all the religious symbols, and they are no longer religious places."
Palestinian shot dead
The celebrations in Gaza Strip were marred by the death of a Palestinian on the Egypt border. Egypt strongly denied witness reports that its guards fired the fatal bullet that killed the jubilant Palestinian. "I categorically deny this report, which is completely baseless," said Suleiman Awad, official spokesman of President Hosni Mubarak.
"If a Palestinian was indeed killed, it was probably as a result of celebratory fire by Palestinians marking the end of the occupation," he added, according to AFP.
Palestinian medics had said that Nafez Attiyeh, 34, died of a bullet wound to the head.
© 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
