Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has promised freedom, jobs and homes for the people of Gaza once Israel completes its pullout.

Kristen Stevens, Gadid

Israeli forces today cleared out one of the last strongholds of opposition to the Gaza pullout and began demolishing homes in an empty settlement, avoiding a repeat of previous day’s violence in which youths pelted soldiers with acid, oil and sand.

Thousands of Israeli troops dragged sobbing Jewish settlers out of homes, synagogues and even a nursery school today and hauled them onto buses in a massive evacuation, fulfilling Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s promise to withdraw from the Gaza Strip after a 38-year occupation.