Oh Yeah, This Sounds Like Salam

[Annie]

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/050819/afp/050819170650top.html

Saturday August 20, 1:09 AM
Abbas hails Gaza pullout as 'fruit of sacrifice'

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AFP) - Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas hailed Israel's historic Gaza withdrawal as the result of Palestinian sacrifice, as Israeli forces moved out some of the last remaining Jewish settlers.

With the vast majority of the 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza evacuated, Abbas told a crowd of jubilant supporters that the ending of 38 years of Israeli occupation in the tiny territory was "the fruit of Palestinian sacrifice".

"We want on this occasion to pay homage to our martyrs, to our prisoners, to our wounded and all those among our people who have made sacrifices," he said.like the suicide bombers, Saddam and SA paid...

The Palestinian leader reiterated calls for his people to bolster the case for independence by refraining from violence, pledging that there would be further pullbacks from the far larger West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem.Why wouldn't he think Sharon is going to give more? There was nothing expected from the Palis here, there will be nothing forthcoming, either.

"The most important thing is how to build our country so that it will become a model of civilisation for the rest of the world," he said.

"This step is only the first step that will be completed in Jenin and in the West Bank and in Jerusalem, God willing," added the Palestinian leader, reiterating his refrain that Israel make additional pullbacks. Here are the demands.

With the evacuation operation winding down for the weekend, police and soldiers on Friday forced out settlers from only one more community, Gadid.

Images of Jews being dragged kicking and screaming from a synagogue by fellow Jews, that have become all too familiar since the first expulsions on Wednesday, were once again beamed into Israeli homes.

Over by lunchtime, the army described resistance as "very mild" in stark contrast to events Thursday at a synagogue in the Kfar Darom settlement where hardliners hurled corrosive liquid, oil and dirt bombs at unarmed riot police.

"Jews don't expel Jews," was the common cry as Israel's operation to completely withdraw from the impoverished Palestinian territory gathered pace.

Six people were arrested during the Gadid evacuation and one woman was taken to hospital after slipping from the roof of a single-storey which she had smeared with oil in a bid to hamper her evacuators.

Another two dozen radical Israeli youths were arrested after they managed to escape their evictors to flee into a Palestinian enclave.

All but three of the 21 Gaza Strip settlements have either been officially classified as empty or almost completely evacuated, and the process of demolishing the empty homes has begun.

"All in all this is a victory for the security forces and for the settlers," said the commander of the pullout operation, General Dan Harel.

He said the operation would be suspended for the Sabbath, the Jewish holy day of rest that began at sundown Friday, adding: "The last settlers will probably be evacuated by Tuesday or Wednesday."

The operation, the first time Israel has removed Jews from Palestinian land, has sharply divided the Jewish state, with many settlers accusing their one-time champion Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of betrayal.

But Palestinians have welcomed the pullout as a victory for the resistance to four decades of occupation and the international community hopes it will mark a new page in efforts to bring peace to the turbulent Middle East.

"My heart danced for joy when I saw the smoke rise from Neve Dekalim and the settlers being chased out," said 38-year-old Rasmi Sahlul who used to earn 65 dollars a day as a farm labourer on the settlement. He's correct, Israel as a 'state' is done.

The army said troops had dragged out most protestors from the synagogues at Kfar Darom and the main settlement of Neve Dekalim, where hundreds of chanting Jews had staged a two-day blockade, locking arms to prevent their eviction.

A heavy silence hung over Neve Dekalim on Friday morning.

Medical sources said 75 people, including 31 police and soldiers were wounded during Thursday's operations while about 250 protestors were arrested after the Kfar Darom clashes -- rare scenes of Jew violently confronting Jew.

The prime minister voiced his rage at those who attacked police trying to eject them, branding them "barbarians".

"I saw this bunch of wild people attacking police, border police and soldiers and I said to myself that this was a criminal act, simply that," Sharon told the Yediot Aharonot.

Next week he heads to Gaza to personally thank the security forces.

While the pullout has cost him the enmity of the settlers who once saw him as their champion, Sharon has won international praise for the move. He better enjoy it, my guess it will be bitter very shortly.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said the pullout illustrated that "Sharon is capable of making peace." There wasn't a question of that, the question is 'peace at what price?' In this case, the answer is simple. Peace=End of Israel.

In an interview with the New York Times, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stressed that Israel's obligations for peace with the Palestinians extended beyond the current pullout. "It cannot be Gaza only," she said. She's right. Way past time for every Jew to get on a boat and hope for the best. Don't come to US though.

But Sharon has pledged to pursue settlement activity in the West Bank -- action that defies an internationally drafted peace plan for the Middle East.