With its lightning operation in Gaza -- nearly all Jewish settlers evacuated in just 55 hours -- Israel has shown the world that it can dismantle such enclaves with relative ease, despite the settlers' tears, anguish and occasional violence.
Having set this precedent, Israel will likely come under increasingly intense pressure to do the same in the West Bank -- though Israeli officials insist it could be years before settlements there even come up for discussion.
On the Palestinian side, President Mahmoud Abbas' success in preventing deadly attacks by militants during the pullout has boosted his image as a peace partner and given new weight to his demand that Israel resume negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has repeatedly said his decision to withdraw from Gaza was the hardest he ever made, and the events of the past few days seemed to back his claim that Israel was making a painful concession.
With the world watching via live TV broadcasts, troops dragged sobbing settlers from homes and synagogues and battled rioting youth on rooftops. Soldiers and police often broke down in tears themselves as they carried babies out of nurseries and endured abuse from settlers who called them Nazis and traitors.
agonizing scenes
By Friday, 17 out 21 Gaza settlements had been evacuated, or 85 percent of the settler population. And while some say these agonizing scenes will eventually be forgotten, the swiftness of the pullout will not.
"If we can withdraw from Gaza in two days, speaking about the West Bank is now possible," said Yossi Beilin, leader of the dovish Yahad Party. "The biggest victory of the past two days is the feasibility of withdrawal."
Amnon Dankner, editor of Israel's mass-circulation Maariv daily, said the uprooting of settlers has shattered the widespread Israeli belief that the settlement movement is so powerful that it can veto any land-for-peace deal with the Palestinians. "The resistance [of the settlers] was squashed on first day," he said.
Shaul Goldstein, head of the Yesha council of settlements, acknowledged defeat, despite months of bitter struggle on the streets and in parliament.
He said settlers would now return to political lobbying to make sure the evacuation of four small West Bank settlements next week -- also part of Sharon's "disengagement" from the Palestinians -- will be the last time any of their enclaves are taken down.
Israeli security officials fear one of those West Bank enclaves, Sanur, will be a bastion of resistance, and that violence there will be much more intense than the worst of the Gaza clashes, when rioters threw paint, chemicals and sand at troops trying to haul them off the roof of a synagogue in the Kfar Darom settlement.
Goldstein said he was resigned to the loss of the four West Bank settlements and even pessimistic about the settlers' political prospects. "We are very frustrated and disappointed in the whole political system," he said.
Early Israeli elections could be held in the spring. However, it appears unlikely a pro-settler candidate, such as former Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will defeat the popular Sharon.
Zalman Shoval, a foreign policy adviser to Sharon, said the prime minister is in no rush to start negotiating with the Palestinians over the fate of the 122 West Bank settlements. "The West Bank is not on the agenda right now, and it will probably not be for a very long time," he said.
RSS