Palestinians hear lavish promises
RAFAH, Gaza Strip – Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas promised freedom, jobs and homes for the people of Gaza once Israel completes its pullout. Hours before he spoke Friday at Gaza’s abandoned airport, an Israeli bulldozer demolished the first Jewish settlement, clearing land for Palestinian development.
In the settlement of Gadid, Israeli troops expelled the last settlers holed up in a synagogue, crashing through a flaming barricade of cars, wooden planks and garbage bins. Then, Israel suspended evicting settlers for the Jewish Sabbath, having evacuated 87 percent of Gaza’s settlers in just 2 1/2 days. All but four settlements were vacant.
Smiling and waving to a cheering crowd at the closed Gaza International Airport, Abbas said Israel’s departure was bringing “historic days of joy” to the Palestinians.
In his first major speech since Israel began pulling out on Monday, he promised that the airport, whose runways were destroyed by Israel in fighting in 2000, would again become a gateway for Palestinians – though that will require Israel’s blessing.
Abbas also pledged the Palestinian Authority would rebuild homes demolished by Israel during the past five years of conflict. He promised to reserve 5 percent of government jobs for the disabled, mainly war wounded.
He told the crowd that Israel was quitting Gaza because of Palestinian “sacrifices” and “patience,” and he promised the withdrawal would lead to further pullouts from the West Bank and Jerusalem.
On Friday, two Hamas militants were wounded when an explosive device they were carrying accidentally blew up before they could plant it near the evacuated Kfar Darom settlement, Palestinian officials said.
The extent of their injuries was unknown, said the security officials, who cannot be identified because they are not authorized to speak to the media. The militants apparently wanted to target Israeli troops still guarding the emptied settlement to bolster Hamas claims of having driven the Israelis from Gaza.
A bulldozer crushed flimsy caravan homes in the first demolition of an abandoned Jewish settlement, and the army prepared to complete the task of uprooting the last Israelis from Gaza next week before moving on to evacuations in the West Bank.
In quiet consultations with the United States and the Palestinians, Israel decided to demolish the private homes – many of them single-family villas – and to leave most public buildings intact. Palestinians, who plan high-rise housing units in place of the villas, will be able to use the construction rubble to build a seaport and other projects.
The first demolition was at Kerem Atzmona, an illegal outpost within view of the Mediterranean. The massive shovel of a yellow excavator flattened about 20 homes with just a few blows to each. Cranes lifted bomb shelters – concrete boxes with thick metal doors – onto a flatbed truck to be hauled away and recycled.
In Gadid, the 17th of Gaza’s 21 settlements to be evacuated, protesters set up a flaming barricade at the gate when the army arrived shortly after dawn. They hurled stones and paint-filled light bulbs toward the troops. A military bulldozer cleared the burning debris, and forces quickly fanned through the settlement.
Troops rounded up holdouts who climbed on the roofs of homes and shouted insults. Protesters taking refuge in the synagogue agreed not to resist with force. Police moved into the building and carried sobbing protesters away into waiting buses.
The last four settlements were expected to be emptied by Tuesday, allowing the military to turn its attention midweek to the northern West Bank.