GAZA CITY, August 15, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Palestinians across the Gaza Strip celebrated on Monday, August 15, the long-awaited liberation of the territory after the start of the Israeli pullout, amid scenes of jubilation and high hopes of a better and prosperous future.

Mosques encouraged the Palestinians, through loudspeakers, to attend congregational prayers of thanks and pray for future pullouts from the West Bank and Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem), the Doha-based Aljazeera news channel reported.

Dozens of drivers in Gaza City honked their horns on the streets and hundreds others showed up donning caps and white T-shirts reading "Today Gaza, Tomorrow the West Bank and Al-Quds."

"Ten years of negotiations failed to achieve what four years of Intifada did," read a banner emblazoned by Hamas fighters across a Gaza street.

"It is undoubtedly a milestone in Palestinian history," Hamas spokesman Mushir Al-Masri told hundreds of Hamas supporters and Palestinians in Gaza City.

The Palestinian Withdrawal Committee, headed by Minister of Civil Affairs Muhammad Dahlan, organized a "street clean-up" event as part of the celebrations.

Celebrations also took place in southern Lebanon and Jordan, home to large Palestinian populations.

Palestinian refugees in Ein Al-Hilwa camp, the largest in south Lebanon, waved Palestinian flags and raised banners hailing the Palestinian Intifada.

Israel officially launched its Gaza Strip pullout Monday, sending police and soldiers to deliver 48-hour eviction notices in Jewish settlements where hundreds of hardliners blocked gates and vowed defiance.

Israeli occupation troops started delivering eviction notices at 07:00 a.m. in all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four of 120 in the West Bank.

The occupation army intends to leave the Gaza settlements and the four isolated enclaves in the West Bank by September 4.

It plans to complete the Gaza pullout in October, when the last Israeli troops are scheduled to leave.

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Palestinian TV and Arab satellite channels offered a special day-long coverage of the landmark event.

"A Day from Gaza," reads Al-Jazeera’s mantra to mark the day, while its rival Al-Arabiya opted for "Liberation of Gaza".

The special coverage on Palestinian TV was accompanied by songs and interviews with lay people, who said that 38 years of uphill struggle have finally paid off.

Many, however, stressed that there is still a long way ahead to liberate the rest of occupied Palestinian territories.

The withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from the Gaza Strip is hailed by Palestinians as a victory and decried by Israeli opponents as a surrender to the Intifada and resistance.

But the Palestinians fear Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon devised the Gaza plan as a ruse to cement Israel's hold on most of the West Bank, where 230,000 settlers and 2.4 million Palestinians live.

Sharon has been selling the Gaza pullout to hostile domestic opinion by stressing that he obtained US guarantees that large settlement blocs in the West Bank would never be threatened by final status negotiations with the Palestinians.

Further fuelling Palestinian fears, he ruled out in an interview last week any concessions on the major West Bank settlement blocs, Al-Quds and the Palestinian refugees.

Rejoicing security men wave a Palestinian flag. (Reuters)

Nonetheless, Palestinians pin high hopes on the withdrawal, saying it heralds a new era of prosperity to compensate them for their long-lost freedom.

"When they leave, we will build a large hotel on the seafront which will be called the Peace Hotel," Iyad, dreaming out loud from his impoverished village locked in the heart of Gush Katif, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

But despite the imminent evacuation on August 17 of the Gaza Strip's 21 settlements, the Palestinians of the fertile Mawasi village, near Gush Katif, are still not sure if they can believe the settlers are really going.

"When they leave we will be able to sleep with no fear. For the moment it is impossible to rest," said Masawi Mayor Ahmed Mustafa Al-Majaida.

"I will go to the beach with my children and my wife. We will organize a huge party and then sleep on the sand and under the stars, with nothing to fear."

The 8,000-strong village's notables were due to hold a meeting to coordinate an emergency action plan for the immediate aftermath of the pullout.

Spreading over around 20 square kilometers (eight square miles), the Palestinian community in Masawi is boxed in by fortified settlements, Israeli army positions and checkpoints.

The nearest Palestinian city, Khan Yunis, is barely two miles (three kilometers) away. But it can take days to get there and back.

The main obstacle is the Al-Tufah Israeli military checkpoint, known as the worst in the Palestinian territories.

"Two kilometers can involve waiting for three or four days. A pregnant woman can wait up to a week before obtaining a permit to go to hospital. For this reason, we almost never go to Khan Yunis," said the mayor.