ISRAEL - Sep 11 - Troops Make A Final Departure.

Israel begins to pull its last soldiers out of the Gaza Strip, although a last-minute dispute with the PA forces the scrapping of a formal ceremony transferring the territory to Palestinian control. When Brig Gen Aviv Kochavi, Israeli military commander in Gaza, walks through the checkpoint at Kissufim crossing this morning, Israel's 38-year military presence in the territory will be over. As the last of 3,000 soldiers prepared to leave, the army lowered the Israeli flag at its HQ's at Neve Dekalim, the erstwhile capital of Jewish settlement in Gaza. The building, one of the few still standing in the settlement, is to be left behind for the PA. Some 300 yards from the parade ground where Israeli officers and soldiers gathered for the closing ceremony, hundreds of Palestinians lined rooftops decked with dozens of new flags on the outskirts of the Palestinian town of Khan Younis. The Israelis fired occasional bursts of warning machine-gun fire to prevent them from approaching. There is still disagreement over whether the army's departure will represent the end of an occupation that began in 1967, when Israel captured the Gaza Strip from Egypt. The PA says the occupation will continue as long as Israel maintains control over crossing points in and out of the territory. It was not borders, however, but synagogues that on Sep 11 sparked a PA boycott of the handover ceremony due to have taken place at the main Erez crossing point between Gaza and Israel on Sep 11 night. The Israeli cabinet on Sep 11 voted 14-to-2 not to demolish 25 synagogues in the territory that had been used by the 8,000 Jewish settlers evacuated two weeks ago. Israeli political commentators said PM Ariel Sharon, was trying to win favour from the religious rightwing of his Likud party even though a court ruling said the synagogues could be pulled down. The homes of the settlers were all demolished shortly after they were vacated. "They [the rabbis] know the terrible consequences for Israeli-Palestinian relations if the Palestinians will demolish the synagogues", Haim Ramon, a Labour party minister, told Army Radio on Sep 11. The Palestinians have demanded that the army demolish the synagogues, saying they would not be able to protect them against possible desecration. All the synagogues are modern buildings. "Isn't the Israeli government, in such a decision, trying to put us in a corner"? said Saeb Erekat, Palestinian negotiator. "Damned if we do, damned if we don't"? On the Philadephi corridor on the Gaza-Egyptian border, Egypt this Sep 10 began deploying 750 guards who will replace Israeli troops to prevent arms smuggling under a deal reached with Israel. But Israel last week closed the Rafah terminal on this border, forcing Palestinian people and goods travelling between Gaza and Egypt to use an Israeli-controlled crossing instead. Israel says Rafah could be reopened in a few months, possibly with third-party monitoring. Mohammad Dahlan, the Palestinian minister of civil affairs, said: By reserving itself the ability to invade the Gaza Strip and by maintaining control over Palestinian airspace, territorial waters and, most importantly, its borders, Israel will continue its military rule over the Palestinians and thereby continue to deny Palestinians their freedom".