August 12 Palestinians start celebrating Gaza pullout 'victory'
Palestinians start celebrating Gaza pullout 'victory' Fri Aug 12, 1:05 PM ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) - Palestinian leaders and militants were in defiant mood, jockeying to take credit for Israel's imminent withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and vowing it marked the start of a wave of pullouts.
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A day after Jewish ultranationalists violently opposed to Israel's first ever evacuation from occupied Palestinian land staged one of the largest demonstrations Tel Aviv has ever seen, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon insisted he had no regrets.
In Gaza City celebrations organised in by the Palestinian Authority to mark Israel's imminent departure after a 38-year occupation, president Mahmud Abbas told a large crowd: "Today Gaza and tomorrow Jerusalem if God wills it."
"Today, our march to freedom begins. Tomorrow, it will be Jenin's turn and after that Jerusalem," Abbas said at the gathering, called "the Festival of Victory and Freedom."
The Israeli pullout was a unilateral decision by Sharon before coordination was finally agreed upon, and the Palestinian Authority initially responded negatively when the idea was first floated.
Many Palestinians fear a "Gaza first, Gaza last" scenario whereby Israel hands back the small territory and evacuates the 8,000 settlers living there in exchange for permanent control over the West Bank and Jerusalem.
The main Palestinian militant group Hamas sent a thinly-veiled message to Abbas Friday, warning against any attempt to prevent its supporters from continuing the struggle against Israeli occupation.
"This army will continue to defend our homeland as long as one inch of Palestine remains occupied," Hamas leader in Gaza Mahmud Zahar told said after attending a training session of Hamas's military wing, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades.
"This is a sample of the invincible Al-Qassam Brigades and we hope that nobody else will suffer their wrath," he added. "They are the ones who provoked the end of the occupation and not the gun-toting drunkards who celebrate in the streets."
Hamas has often sought to draw parallels between the Gaza pullout and Israel's May 2000 withdrawal from southern Lebanon under military pressure from Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shiite organisation.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad have expressed their support for the principle of the withdrawal from gaza but have stopped short of giving any guarantees they would lay down their arms and join the political arena after the pullout.
The international community has warned that Israel's opening of Gaza's borders would not suffice to make the small enclave viable after a pullout and that the Palestinians would have to put some order in their own house.
Israeli opponents to Sharon's so-called disengagement plan argue that the withdrawal will allow the likes of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to develop their firepower aimed at the Jewish state.
But bolstered by a fresh message of support from US President George W. Bush for his disengagement plan, Sharon refused to ask the forgiveness of the settlers who for years regarded him as their ultimate champion.
"I have no regrets. Even if I had anticipated the size of the opposition to my disengagement plan, I would have maintained it," Sharon said in an interview published in the top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily.
Close to 200,000 opponents of the pullout held a mass protest Thursday night in Tel Aviv, in a last show of strength before the Israeli army starts forcibly evacuating settlers on August 17.
"There is no question of my asking for their forgiveness but I share in their grief," Sharon said. His comments came after President Moshe Katsav said the settlers deserved an apology from the state.
As the clock was ticking down towards the beginning of the 21 Gaza settlements' evacuation, some residents continued to pack their belongings and others readied for a standoff with Israeli security forces.
According to the Israeli army, more than 5,000 anti-pullout protestors have infiltrated Gaza settlements, almost doubling a settler population that has already dwindled from its initial level of 8,000.
The bulk of the protestors were concentrated in Neve Dekalim -- considered the capital of the Gush Katif settlement bloc. On Friday, settlers were stockpiling water, flour and other basic ingredients.
The Palestinian mufti Sheikh Ekremah Sabri called during Friday prayers on all worshippers to flock to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque on Sunday in a bid to foil a reported attempt by Jewish extremist to take over the holy site.
"I am reminding you that we all have to head to Al-Aqsa Sunday because the Jews have announced they will take it over. It is every Muslim's duty to go to Al-Aqsa because it is under threat," Sheikh Sabri said.
GAZA CITY (AFP) - Palestinian leaders and militants were in defiant mood, jockeying to take credit for Israel's imminent withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and vowing it marked the start of a wave of pullouts.
ADVERTISEMENT
A day after Jewish ultranationalists violently opposed to Israel's first ever evacuation from occupied Palestinian land staged one of the largest demonstrations Tel Aviv has ever seen, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon insisted he had no regrets.
In Gaza City celebrations organised in by the Palestinian Authority to mark Israel's imminent departure after a 38-year occupation, president Mahmud Abbas told a large crowd: "Today Gaza and tomorrow Jerusalem if God wills it."
"Today, our march to freedom begins. Tomorrow, it will be Jenin's turn and after that Jerusalem," Abbas said at the gathering, called "the Festival of Victory and Freedom."
The Israeli pullout was a unilateral decision by Sharon before coordination was finally agreed upon, and the Palestinian Authority initially responded negatively when the idea was first floated.
Many Palestinians fear a "Gaza first, Gaza last" scenario whereby Israel hands back the small territory and evacuates the 8,000 settlers living there in exchange for permanent control over the West Bank and Jerusalem.
The main Palestinian militant group Hamas sent a thinly-veiled message to Abbas Friday, warning against any attempt to prevent its supporters from continuing the struggle against Israeli occupation.
"This army will continue to defend our homeland as long as one inch of Palestine remains occupied," Hamas leader in Gaza Mahmud Zahar told said after attending a training session of Hamas's military wing, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades.
"This is a sample of the invincible Al-Qassam Brigades and we hope that nobody else will suffer their wrath," he added. "They are the ones who provoked the end of the occupation and not the gun-toting drunkards who celebrate in the streets."
Hamas has often sought to draw parallels between the Gaza pullout and Israel's May 2000 withdrawal from southern Lebanon under military pressure from Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shiite organisation.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad have expressed their support for the principle of the withdrawal from gaza but have stopped short of giving any guarantees they would lay down their arms and join the political arena after the pullout.
The international community has warned that Israel's opening of Gaza's borders would not suffice to make the small enclave viable after a pullout and that the Palestinians would have to put some order in their own house.
Israeli opponents to Sharon's so-called disengagement plan argue that the withdrawal will allow the likes of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to develop their firepower aimed at the Jewish state.
But bolstered by a fresh message of support from US President George W. Bush for his disengagement plan, Sharon refused to ask the forgiveness of the settlers who for years regarded him as their ultimate champion.
"I have no regrets. Even if I had anticipated the size of the opposition to my disengagement plan, I would have maintained it," Sharon said in an interview published in the top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily.
Close to 200,000 opponents of the pullout held a mass protest Thursday night in Tel Aviv, in a last show of strength before the Israeli army starts forcibly evacuating settlers on August 17.
"There is no question of my asking for their forgiveness but I share in their grief," Sharon said. His comments came after President Moshe Katsav said the settlers deserved an apology from the state.
As the clock was ticking down towards the beginning of the 21 Gaza settlements' evacuation, some residents continued to pack their belongings and others readied for a standoff with Israeli security forces.
According to the Israeli army, more than 5,000 anti-pullout protestors have infiltrated Gaza settlements, almost doubling a settler population that has already dwindled from its initial level of 8,000.
The bulk of the protestors were concentrated in Neve Dekalim -- considered the capital of the Gush Katif settlement bloc. On Friday, settlers were stockpiling water, flour and other basic ingredients.
The Palestinian mufti Sheikh Ekremah Sabri called during Friday prayers on all worshippers to flock to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque on Sunday in a bid to foil a reported attempt by Jewish extremist to take over the holy site.
"I am reminding you that we all have to head to Al-Aqsa Sunday because the Jews have announced they will take it over. It is every Muslim's duty to go to Al-Aqsa because it is under threat," Sheikh Sabri said.
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