Neve Dekalim

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip -- Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered yesterday in the Gaza Strip's largest settlement bloc to rally against the government's plan to withdraw from the area, trying to maintain a carnival-like atmosphere of defiance despite a Palestinian rocket attack. Though the crowd filled the central lawn at Neve Dekalim, the largest Gush Katif settlement, the turnout of about 40,000 was less than half the number the settlers expected, and some residents dismissed the prediction that thousands of the visitors would stay to join resistance to the pullout, set for July or August.

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip -- Palestinians looted dozens of greenhouses yesterday, walking off with irrigation hoses, water pumps, and plastic sheeting in a blow to fledgling efforts to reconstruct the Gaza Strip. American Jewish donors had bought more than 3,000 greenhouses from Israeli settlers in Gaza for $14 million last month and transferred them to the Palestinian Authority. Former World Bank President James Wolfensohn, who brokered the deal, put up $500,000 of his own money.

GAZA CITY -- An Israeli missile strike killed one Palestinian and wounded five early today, hours after militants killed an Israeli-American woman in the first deadly shelling of a Jewish settlement in Gaza in four years of fighting. The settlement attack, which came just before the start of Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, was likely to mobilize further opposition to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip next year. The militant Hamas group claimed responsibility for firing two mortars at the Neve Dekalim settlement in southern Gaza.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Dozens of gunmen stormed the home of deposed Gaza security chief Moussa Arafat before dawn today, dragged him out, and shot him dead in the street, police said. Arafat, 66, a cousin of the late leader Yasser Arafat, was fired earlier this year by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for his death. Moussa Arafat was linked to corruption charges and had many powerful enemies. The gunmen attacked his house in Gaza City with rocket-propelled grenades, engaging his bodyguards in a 30-minute battle before storming...

JERUSALEM -- Israel is negotiating to hand over greenhouses in Gaza settlements to Palestinians after its planned withdrawal in the summer, an official said yesterday, and the military scrapped a contentious plan to dig a deep, wide moat along the Gaza-Egypt border. Yonatan Bassi, head of Israel's Disengagement Authority, told reporters that peppers and tomatoes grown in the greenhouses could help feed the 1.3 million Palestinians packed into the narrow coastal strip. Luxury items such as flowers and strawberries would be exported, mainly to the European Union.

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip -- Palestinians looted dozens of greenhouses yesterday, walking off with irrigation hoses, water pumps, and plastic sheeting in a blow to fledgling efforts to reconstruct the Gaza Strip. American Jewish donors had bought more than 3,000 greenhouses from Israeli settlers in Gaza for $14 million last month and transferred them to the Palestinian Authority. Former World Bank President James Wolfensohn, who brokered the deal, put up $500,000 of his own money.

JERUSALEM -- Flatbed trucks rumbled out of the Gaza Strip yesterday, carrying office furniture, computers, and uniforms from an army base, the Israeli military's first concrete step toward a planned pullout this summer. With Israel set to withdraw all troops and settlements from Gaza in three months, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned that he expects Palestinians to loot abandoned sites after the soldiers leave. The comment astonished Palestinian leaders, who say chaos is not inevitable.

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip -- Jewish settlers in Gaza have collected hundreds of tents and are stockpiling food for thousands of supporters they expect to arrive in coming days to help resist this summer's evacuation. Piles of hundreds of tents, sleeping bags, and cans of food were seen in a Gaza warehouse yesterday, and settlers said more are on the way. Removal of the 21 settlements from Gaza and four from the West Bank is shaping up as a traumatic episode in Israel's history.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Dozens of gunmen stormed the home of deposed Gaza security chief Moussa Arafat before dawn today, dragged him out, and shot him dead in the street, police said. Arafat, 66, a cousin of the late leader Yasser Arafat, was fired earlier this year by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for his death. Moussa Arafat was linked to corruption charges and had many powerful enemies. The gunmen attacked his house in Gaza City with rocket-propelled grenades, engaging his bodyguards in a 30-minute battle...

GAZA CITY, Gaza strip -- A stray bullet killed an 11-year old Palestinian girl in her kitchen yesterday when Israeli troops fired on her neighborhood in the southern Gaza Strip, relatives and hospital officials said. The girl, Iman Tulbeh, was shot in the head as soldiers fired toward the al-Amal neighborhood in the town of Khan Younis, the witnesses said. The Israeli military said militants had fired a rocket from the area and that troops returned fire. The army said it was investigating the incident.

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip -- Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered yesterday in the Gaza Strip's largest settlement bloc to rally against the government's plan to withdraw from the area, trying to maintain a carnival-like atmosphere of defiance despite a Palestinian rocket attack. Though the crowd filled the central lawn at Neve Dekalim, the largest Gush Katif settlement, the turnout of about 40,000 was less than half the number the settlers expected, and some residents dismissed the prediction that thousands of the visitors would stay to join resistance to the pullout, set for July or August.

JERUSALEM -- Flatbed trucks rumbled out of the Gaza Strip yesterday, carrying office furniture, computers, and uniforms from an army base, the Israeli military's first concrete step toward a planned pullout this summer. With Israel set to withdraw all troops and settlements from Gaza in three months, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned that he expects Palestinians to loot abandoned sites after the soldiers leave. The comment astonished Palestinian leaders, who say chaos is not inevitable.

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip -- Jewish settlers in Gaza have collected hundreds of tents and are stockpiling food for thousands of supporters they expect to arrive in coming days to help resist this summer's evacuation. Piles of hundreds of tents, sleeping bags, and cans of food were seen in a Gaza warehouse yesterday, and settlers said more are on the way. Removal of the 21 settlements from Gaza and four from the West Bank is shaping up as a traumatic episode in Israel's history.

JERUSALEM -- Israel is negotiating to hand over greenhouses in Gaza settlements to Palestinians after its planned withdrawal in the summer, an official said yesterday, and the military scrapped a contentious plan to dig a deep, wide moat along the Gaza-Egypt border. Yonatan Bassi, head of Israel's Disengagement Authority, told reporters that peppers and tomatoes grown in the greenhouses could help feed the 1.3 million Palestinians packed into the narrow coastal strip. Luxury items such as flowers and strawberries would be exported, mainly to the European Union.

GAZA CITY -- An Israeli missile strike killed one Palestinian and wounded five early today, hours after militants killed an Israeli-American woman in the first deadly shelling of a Jewish settlement in Gaza in four years of fighting. The settlement attack, which came just before the start of Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, was likely to mobilize further opposition to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip next year. The militant Hamas group claimed responsibility for firing two mortars at the Neve Dekalim settlement in southern Gaza.

JERUSALEM -- Israel's defense minister, undaunted by growing resistance within the ruling party to a planned pullout from the Gaza Strip, said yesterday that the army's blueprint for the withdrawal will be ready next month. Gaza settlers charged that the government is already preparing to throw them out of their homes. Also yesterday, Israel's attorney general urged the government to consider adopting an international convention governing the treatment of residents in occupied lands.

JERUSALEM -- Israel's defense minister, undaunted by growing resistance within the ruling party to a planned pullout from the Gaza Strip, said yesterday that the army's blueprint for the withdrawal will be ready next month. Gaza settlers charged that the government is already preparing to throw them out of their homes. Also yesterday, Israel's attorney general urged the government to consider adopting an international convention governing the treatment of residents in occupied lands.

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip -- Thousands of masked Hamas gunmen marched in formation through abandoned Jewish settlements yesterday, firing in the air and trampling an Israeli flag in the Islamic militant group's largest military-style victory parade since the Gaza withdrawal. The show of force -- and the Palestinian Authority's persistent failure to stop people from crossing Gaza's border into Egypt -- underscored Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas's trouble asserting control. Abbas pledged yesterday to seal the chaotic frontier in "two or three days," but previous deadlines passed...

GAZA CITY, Gaza strip -- A stray bullet killed an 11-year old Palestinian girl in her kitchen yesterday when Israeli troops fired on her neighborhood in the southern Gaza Strip, relatives and hospital officials said. The girl, Iman Tulbeh, was shot in the head as soldiers fired toward the al-Amal neighborhood in the town of Khan Younis, the witnesses said. The Israeli military said militants had fired a rocket from the area and that troops returned fire. The army said it was investigating the incident.