For one family, giving up Gaza ends a dream

Even though they moved to Gaza shortly after the first Palestinian uprising, the Snirs say they never anticipated living in a war zone. During the first days of the second Palestinian uprising, gunfire and mortars kept them awake at night. As the intensity died down, occasional shots in the distance became background noise. Several weeks ago, an unexploded mortar shell fell next to 10-year-old Adi.

And yet, leaving Gaza will offer no comfort. "It might give me personal peace of mind,'" Sara says, "but it won't give the country peace."

Indeed, the conflict with the Palestinians isn't over, merely, land in the West Bank and Gaza, they contended. "This isn't about 1967. It's a religious conflict. It's a conflict over the land of Israel," Shimon says.

On Wednesday, Sara picked up the keys to the family's temporary home for at least a year - a cookie-cutter bungalow in a three-month old neighborhood that will absorb one-fifth of the Gaza evacuees.

Located just 15 miles north of Gaza, clouds of dirt filled the air of Nitzan from bulldozers racing to pave the neighborhood's main road. As Sara inspected the domicile just one-fourth of the size of their Gaza home, the usually cheerful mother dabbed her eye. "We'll be living like sardines," she says. "See how small it is? We will all have to shrink to fit in."

Back at the Snir's home in Gaza, young Neorai eats cereal, while pots and pans are being hurriedly bubble-wrapped. The younger siblings haven't yet digested the meaning of the move, says Arbel, the oldest child.

Unlike the thousands of settler youths arriving in Gaza to actively resist pullout, the teenager says she has spent her final nights with friends at the local youth club. "My friends are realistic," she says, her voice choked. "They know that if it happens, there's nothing we can do to stop it."

Outside, amid rows of hothouses, Shimon oversees Palestinian workers uprooting 1.25 acres of pineapple plants that he wants to replant inside Israel. Some will suffer trauma, but others will eventually bear fruit - a catharsis not unlike what awaits the residents of Gush Katif.

"This week isn't that bad. Next week will be the really difficult one," he says. "Next week there will be no workers, no greenhouses. There will be nowhere to run. You'll have to sit down and think about everything. That won't be easy."

Monday, Aug. 15: Official deadline for Israeli civilians to leave the Gaza Strip. Troops will instruct remaining settlers they have 48 hours to leave.

Aug. 15-16: Grace period when settlers can still leave Gaza voluntarily and in their own cars. The army will help them pack without space constraints. Settlers who leave by midnight on Aug. 16 will still be entitled to full compensation.

Aug. 17: Forcible evacuation of the remaining settlers begins. The army will pack the settlers' belongings but limit each household to two containers. Large possessions and cars could get left behind, and families could lose up to 30 percent of their compensation.

Sept. 1-7: Troops will begin dismantling the four West Bank settlements of Ganim, Kadim, Homesh and Sanur.

September: Troops will begin demolishing settlers' homes. Demolitions will take two to three weeks to complete, an army official says. During this time, the Israeli military will be completing their own pullout from the Gaza strip.

October: Palestinians are expected to assume control of the settler areas. Celebrations are planned.

Source: AP

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