Gleeful Palestinians cheered and laughed from rooftops and windows today as they watched Israeli troops move into the Gaza Strip to force Jewish settlers from the occupied territory.
"Of course I am happy. I saw at least 500 Israeli soldiers arriving at Tel Katifa to kick settlers out," said 51-year-old Mohammad A-Salqawi, a farmer whose shabby house looks out on the small settlement nearby.
A Jewish settler child cries as his family is evacuated from their home by Israeli soldiers from the Jewish settlement of Neve Dekalim, part of the Gush Katif settlement bloc in Gaza Strip today.
"I will take my land back. I lost greenhouses which were demolished to make room for the settlement," said Mr Salaqawi as some of his 16 children scampered nearby to get a better view.
There has been little cause for joy in Gaza since the start of an uprising after talks with Israel failed in 2000. The packed and impoverished territory has been battered by fighting between Israeli troops and militants.
Adding to the resentment among Gaza's 1.4 million inhabitants, was the presence of 8,500 settlers - wealthier and protected behind walls and razor wire.
Israeli troops have demolished hundreds of buildings during raids into Gaza. The army said they were used for launching attacks.
Many settlers left by last night's midnight deadline others were today dragged screaming and sobbing from homes and synagogues as the forced evacuation began.
Thousands of unarmed soldiers marched door-to-door in six Jewish enclaves, ordering people out and in some cases breaking down doors when they refused. Police grabbed protesters off the streets and pushed them into waiting buses.
A West Bank settler woman opposed to the pullout set herself on fire at a checkpoint outside the Gaza Strip, suffering burns to 60 per cent of her body. Ultranationalist Israelis see the West Bank and Gaza as land bequeathed to the Jews by God.
In one synagogue, radical youths who had slipped into the main settlement bloc sang the haunting melody some Jews sang on their way to Nazi gas chambers. But elsewhere there were increasing signs of settlers resigning themselves to evacuation as they tearfully hugged soldiers before filing quietly onto buses taking them to Israel .
Under Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to "disengage" from the Gaza Strip, Israeli troops began forced evacuations today. Israel occupied Gaza in the 1967 Middle East war.
"I feel like I could fly, I am so happy," said Abu Ahmed, a father of 10 whose house was demolished by Israeli troops during the uprising.
Watching from a rooftop in Khan Younis, next door to the main settlement of Neve Dekalim. He said: "Today their houses are being demolished and they are being driven out of Gaza. It is payback time".
Hamas militants, who claim the pullout as a victory for the uprising, slapped up posters on Gaza City walls showing a masked gunmen striding across crumbling settlements. But Israeli opponents of the pullout say it rewards violence.
There was little echo of the Gaza celebrations in the West Bank, though, the other occupied Palestinian territory. Many of them fear Mr Sharon's plan is a ruse to allow Israel to hold onto its far bigger West Bank settlement blocs.
Only four of the 120 settlements there, home to 230,000 Jews, are being removed. Mr Sharon vows that Israel will keep forever its biggest settlements and Arab East Jerusalem - which Palestinians regard as their true capital.
Those areas are steadily being enclosed in a barrier that Israel says stops suicide bombers and Palestinians call a land grab. Israel 's attachment to the West Bank, cradle of Jewish history, has always been much greater than to sandy Gaza.
"We shouldn't exaggerate celebrations," said Sameer al-Bakri, a 42-year-old driver in Hebron, where the Jewish settler movement began and hundreds of settlers live at the very heart of the city.
"We're happy for our brothers in Gaza but we can't celebrate because Israel is creating facts on the ground in the West Bank. How can we celebrate a big lie."
Agencies