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Gaza pullout resumes after violent clashes
GADID, Gaza Strip - Israeli troops pushed through a barricade of flaming cars in this small settlement Friday, a day after youths holed up on a synagogue rooftop pelted soldiers with acid, oil and sand in the most violent protest against Israel's Gaza pullout, the Associated Press reported.
The mission to clear out Gadid followed daylong clashes at two centers of hardcore resistance ¡ª synagogues at Neve Dekalim and Kfar Darom. Some 14,000 soldiers have carried out Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to cede Gaza to the Palestinians. At the beginning of the third day of forcible evacuations Friday, all but five of the 21 Gaza settlements stood empty. About 2,000 forces were participating in Friday's evacuation of Gadid, where a few holdout families, along with about 60 extremist "reinforcements" who came from outside Gaza to resist, remained. In what has become a familiar scene this week, settlers set two cars and wooden planks on fire to block the arriving soldiers. A military bulldozer quickly cleared a path. The forces halted briefly when they encountered two more flaming roadblocks, which sent a thick plume of black smoke in the air, then spread out through town. Most of the outsiders were holed up in the settlement's synagogue, where they gathered for morning prayers. Several young protesters stood on the roof of an abandoned house, and two weeping families hugged each other outside their neighboring homes. Police said they planned to begin taking away protesters later in the morning after prayers ended. A man with a long grey beard, identifying himself only as Itzik, said he had come to Gadid with his wife and four children from the northern city of Haifa in a show of unity with the settlers. "I feel only sadness," he said. The government began the forcible removal of Gaza's settlers on Wednesday after a two-day grace period expired. While tears and emotion characterized the first day of the operation, the second day turned violent. On Thursday, dozens of protesters at the hardline settlement Kfar Darom barricaded themselves behind razor wire on the synagogue roof, at first singing and waving flags, then attacking soldiers below with caustic liquids and objects, including paint-filled lightbulbs. Stunned police and soldiers, shaking in confusion, ripped off their helmets and clothes after being splashed by what police said was acid. Comrades quickly poured water on their heads and bodies. Some of the men gasped for air, and one sat on the floor, seeming disoriented. To break the siege, army cranes lowered metal cages filled with helmeted troops onto the roof, as cannons sprayed protesters with blasts of water. Other troops carrying wire cutters climbed ladders slick with oil. Then the troops removed the protesters one by one. At Neve Dekalim, troops wrestled for hours against some 1,500 extremists making their last stand inside Gaza's largest settlement. Protesters lay on the synagogue floor with their arms linked, kicking against the Israeli forces while supporters held their shoulders in a tug-of-war. After breaking the human chain, troops dragged protesters out of the synagogue, holding them by their arms and legs as they twisted and squirmed. Other protesters chanted "blasphemy, blasphemy." Most of the unrest has come from young settler activists from the West Bank who infiltrated Gaza in recent weeks to resist the evacuations. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the attacks on troops in Kfar Darom infuriated him and said the rioters would be prosecuted. Investigators would also check "who sent them (the rioters) and who incited them," he told the Haaretz daily. Sharon said he was saddened when watching the evacuation of Kfar Darom on television. "But in the evening, when I saw the tossing of those bottles of poisonous substances, or harmful substances, and the injury to ... soldiers and police, my mood altered and the pain turned to rage," he said. Some Israelis were offended that the extremists chose houses of worship for their last stand against the Israeli military. However, experts on Judaism say it's not necessarily taboo for a synagogue to be used as a place of refuge. Several hundred protesters slowed traffic at the entrance to Jerusalem late Thursday, but widespread disruptions throughout the country, pledged by extremists, did not materialize. For years, 8,500 Israelis lived among Gaza's 1.3 million Palestinians in perpetual tension and frequently lethal violence. Sharon said the 38-year occupation of Gaza could no longer be sustained. The standoff at the synagogues was a symbolic climax to the withdrawal operation that started Monday, since many of the settlers are Orthodox Jews who believe Gaza is part of the biblical birthright of the Jewish people. At least 41 police and soldiers and 17 civilians were injured during Thursday's raids on six settlements, police said. In Kfar Darom, about 50 people were arrested. Brig. Gen. Miri Regev, the chief army spokeswoman, was hit in the head by a can thrown from the roof of the Neve Dekalim synagogue. TV footage showed her buckling under the impact. "I felt something hit me hard in the head," she told Channel 2 TV later. "My vision went black and my ears were ringing." Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was looking for ways to keep the violent youth out of the army, a serious blow to a young Israeli's standing. "Anyone who assaulted soldiers and police officers is unworthy of wearing the Israeli army's uniform," he said. In another standoff, at the beachfront settlement of Kfar Yam, settler Aryeh Yitzhaki clambered onto his roof with an M-16 rifle slung over his shoulder. Three other extremists accompanied him. He held off police for hours before negotiators persuaded him and the others to surrender. In Shirat Hayam, troops brought in a hydraulic platform to bring down more than dozen protesters singing and chanting on a rooftop. In a nursery school, one little girl screamed, "You can't throw us out of our house."
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