NEVE DEKALIM SETTLEMENT (Gaza Strip), Aug 15: Israel on Monday began its Gaza Strip pullout after 38 years of occupation and completely evacuated two doomed settlements in the West Bank weeks ahead of schedule. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon delivered an impassioned defence of the operation, saying he understood the pain of the settlers but warned of an unprecedented response to Palestinians who shunned his ‘hand of peace’.

Despite scenes of anger and emotion from radical Jewish settlers in Gaza, the army announced that the two most northerly settlements of Ganin and Kadim in the West Bank had been completely cleared of residents.

“These are the first two communities to be fully and successfully evacuated,” an army spokeswoman told AFP.

Residents of the two tiny enclaves left voluntarily ahead of schedule, departing for new lives in Israel proper or in other settlements dotted across the West Bank.

“This plan is good for Israel in any future scenario. We are reducing the day-to-day friction and its victims on both sides,” Mr Sharon said in an address to the nation.

But thousands of police and soldiers who poured into Gaza to tell the settlers they had 48 hours to leave or be forcibly evicted from the Mediterranean coastal territory, incurred patches of fierce resistance.

Protests prevented police from handing out eviction notices in six of the 21 settlements, an army spokeswoman said.

“Criminal! Shame on the army!” shouted the crowd in the largest settlement of Neve Dekalim as troops tried but failed to hand out eviction notices after a midnight declaration that the presence of all Israelis in Gaza was illegal.

Under the searing summer heat, settlers scuffled with soldiers and police, some on horseback, others armed with water cannon.

Mr Sharon, the hawkish former general presiding over the first ever Israeli pullout from occupied Palestinian territory, called on the Palestinians to show the world they were interested in peace.

“Now the Palestinians bear the burden of proof. They must fight terror organizations, dismantle its infrastructure and show sincere intentions of peace in order to sit with us at the negotiating table,” he said.

“The world awaits the Palestinian response — a hand offered in peace or continued terrorist fire. To a hand offered in peace, we will respond with an olive branch. But if they choose fire, we will respond with fire, more severe than ever,” he warned.

The United States urged Israelis and Palestinians to cooperate, reiterating Washington’s hope that a joint effort would build trust and boost chances to implement an international roadmap for a comprehensive peace.—AFP