Israeli troops in showdown with diehard Gaza settlers

KFAR DAROM – Diehard settlers hurled eggs and set abandoned houses ablaze yesterday as Israeli forces dragged hysterical residents from their Gaza Strip homes and thousands of religious Jews took refuge in synagogues to block their forcible ejection from the Palestinian territory.

“You don’t do this to Arabs,” shrieked residents as an army bulldozer smashed its way into Netzer Hazani, the oldest settlement in the occupied Palestinian territory seized by Israel in war 38 years ago. “Shame on You.”Israeli forces, most of them unarmed, marched into five more of the 21 Gaza settlements yesterday, the second day of its forcible evacuation of residents from the territory, a historic operation that has pitted Jew against Jew.Police also said they were poised to launch an assault in a synagogue in the largest settlement of Neve Dekalim where hundreds of young activists have been holed up.Radical youths began burning down abandoned homes in Neve Dekalim as fire-fighters fought in vain to put out the fires that sent plumes of smoke spewing into the sky.Amid scenes of chaos in Kfar Darom, one of the most defiant settler bastions, sobbing families were dragged out of homes one by one by police and soldiers who moved in after dawn.Some set fire to seats in buses laid on to transport them into Israel.Many have taken also refuge at the synagogue whose foundation stone was laid a decade ago by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the settlers’ one-time champion now vilified for orchestrating the first Israeli pullout from Palestinian land.Israeli forces were also set to storm the Neve Dekalim synagogue, where hundreds of youths are massed on the roof and balconies, waving flags and protest banners.At the hardline beachside community of Shirat Hayam, residents and supporters began hurling eggs at soldiers and urged them to disobey their orders while some locked themselves inside their homes or took refuge on synagogue roof.- Nampa-AFP”Shame on You.”Israeli forces, most of them unarmed, marched into five more of the 21 Gaza settlements yesterday, the second day of its forcible evacuation of residents from the territory, a historic operation that has pitted Jew against Jew.Police also said they were poised to launch an assault in a synagogue in the largest settlement of Neve Dekalim where hundreds of young activists have been holed up.Radical youths began burning down abandoned homes in Neve Dekalim as fire-fighters fought in vain to put out the fires that sent plumes of smoke spewing into the sky.Amid scenes of chaos in Kfar Darom, one of the most defiant settler bastions, sobbing families were dragged out of homes one by one by police and soldiers who moved in after dawn.Some set fire to seats in buses laid on to transport them into Israel.Many have taken also refuge at the synagogue whose foundation stone was laid a decade ago by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the settlers’ one-time champion now vilified for orchestrating the first Israeli pullout from Palestinian land.Israeli forces were also set to storm the Neve Dekalim synagogue, where hundreds of youths are massed on the roof and balconies, waving flags and protest banners.At the hardline beachside community of Shirat Hayam, residents and supporters began hurling eggs at soldiers and urged them to disobey their orders while some locked themselves inside their homes or took refuge on synagogue roof.- Nampa-AFP