MIDDLE EAST: After a bitter 38 years, it was a sour leave-taking. The last Israeli tanks rumbled out of the Gaza Strip overnight, completing the long-anticipated evacuation of all Jewish settlers and troops from the narrow coastal enclave which Israel has occupied since 1967.
Gaza's 1.2 million Palestinians awake today to a new reality, liberated from the settlements which blighted their lives and free to reclaim confiscated lands, drive on roads once exclusively reserved for Israelis and fish and swim from shorefronts which until yesterday were dangerously off-limits.
But despite the lowering yesterday of the last Israeli flag to flutter over the demolished ruins of Gaza's 21 settlements, Palestinian residents were far from euphoric about what lies ahead, fearing that the Jewish state is merely repackaging its occupation.
At a political level, the pull-out was marred by last-minute controversy over the fate of 26 abandoned synagogues in the settlements, as well as crucial disagreements over the control of the strip's borders.
An Israeli-organised "hand-over" ceremony in northern Gaza was cancelled yesterday after the Palestinian Authority boycotted the event in protest over Israel's refusal to relinquish its present control over Palestinians and foreigners entering the strip.
While Israel demolished all settlers' homes following last month's evacuation of the 21 enclaves, its cabinet yesterday reversed previous government undertakings, and high court sanction, by voting against levelling the synagogues. The decision to leave the fate of the abandoned and emptied structures in the hands of the Palestinians followed recent rabbinical court rulings that it was unlawful for Jews to destroy Jewish places of worship.
The cabinet decision angered the Palestinian Authority, which accused Israel of trying to saddle it with the blame internationally if the synagogues are defaced by Palestinian crowds who see such structures as symbols of the occupation.
Some PA officials said they would undertake feasibility studies to see if the synagogues can be converted to community centres as part of the planned redevelopment of the settlements, which had consumed about a fifth of the total area of the strip.
The PA declared today an open day in the abandoned settlements, allowing Palestinians to celebrate on the ruins of the former Jewish housing.
The last Israeli troops are scheduled to leave the strip by 8am local time [ 6am Ireland] this morning, bringing to an end a month-long military operation to evacuate all Gaza's settlements and a pocket in the northern West Bank.
The move is part of Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's plan to "disengage" from conflict with the Palestinians by unilaterally redrawing Israel's boundaries.
In a largely symbolic final gesture yesterday, Israel's cabinet voted unanimously to end its military rule in the strip and approved the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza's frontier with Egypt, where Egyptian and Palestinian forces have already begun deploying.
However, the PA is refusing to accept that Israel's occupation is over while it retains control over border crossings, especially on the Egypt-Gaza frontier.
Israel has closed the main crossing from Gaza to Egypt through Rafah terminal and wants to maintain authority over people entering and exiting the strip.
"Israel is deluding itself if it believes its occupation of the Gaza Strip has now ended," said Mohammed Dahlan of the Palestinian Authority.
"By reserving the ability to invade the Gaza Strip and by maintaining control over Palestinian airspace, territorial waters, and most importantly its borders, Israel will continue its military rule."
The isolated Netzarim settlement in the northern half of the strip was guarded yesterday by tanks squatting on sand ridges which have replaced the concrete watchtowers which were dismantled throughout the strip in recent weeks.
The men of the Al Helo family who had four houses demolished two years ago to expand the open-spaced "buffer zone" for this settlement were yesterday quietly preparing to reclaim the land where their homes and farms once stood.
They also recalled the fear of living within shooting range of the soldiers who guarded the settlement during the past five years of the Palestinian intifada which saw a major upsurge in violence in the strip.
"We used to move from one room to another," recalled Shaban Fuad (25), seated beneath the shade of vine leaves in the rear of the house.
"It depended on the shooting. There was a watchtower on the western side and when the shooting came from that side we moved to the eastern side of the house.
"When the shooting came from the watchtower on the eastern side, we moved to the western side of the house," said the son.
"I'm very happy about the withdrawal," said his father.
"The peace benefits both of us and I don't want this to repeat again and I hope the international forces will be in the Gaza Strip so they watch who makes the aggression."
"The settlers lived here for 35 years and they were compensated and it's not even their land.
"This land, I own it for hundreds of years and our ancestors have been planting it. We need our rights back."