Gaza Evictions 'Heartbreaking'

(CBS/AP)  The forcible evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip has begun, with some protesters being loaded into buses Wednesday, and others being carried out of their homes by Israeli soldiers.

As Israeli troops carried out orders on what is intended to be a dramatic step towards peace, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon praised restraint by settlers and soldiers and called the images of settlers being removed from their homes "heartbreaking."

"It's impossible to watch this, and that includes myself, without tears in the eyes," said Sharon.

Sharon appealed to pullout opponents to avoid physical and verbal confrontation with the security forces.

"Attack me, I am responsible for this, attack me, accuse me, don't attack the men and women in uniform," he said.

Israeli President Moshe Katsav, who sat next to Sharon, cut in to correct the prime minister's choice of words. "You mean criticize, not attack," Katsav admonished. Sharon did not respond.

Israeli security forces have warned that Sharon, like his slain predecessor Yitzhak Rabin, could be targeted by extremists.

Sharon defended his decision to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, saying he did it for the good of Israel.

"I believe with all these difficulties, Israel will come out stronger," he said.

Early Wednesday, as the deadline for voluntary withdrawal from Gaza passed, Israeli troops broke through a makeshift barricade in the Jewish settlement of Morag and hauled away protesters.

Israeli troops also marched into the settlements of Neve Dekalim, Bedolah and Ganei Tal.

At Neve Dekalim, the largest settlement, hundreds of troops escorted by bulldozers marched in formation as settlers set dumpsters on fire outside the settlement's synagogue.

In the Neve Dekalim, a young woman was carried by four women soldiers as she shouted, "I don't want to, I don't want to." The women carried her to a bus that was to drive the settlers away, but they had trouble carrying her up the steps into the bus.

The young woman, Hadas, crossed her arms, and it took soldiers several minutes before she was lifted feet first into the bus.

In Morag, soldiers carried out settlers who had taken refuge in a synagogue, while nearby, settlers climbed onto rooftops and protesters at the entrance set up makeshift barricades with overturned garbage containers, shrubbery and rocks. Troops formed a human chain and pushed protesters back.

Troops also marched in formation through the Ganei Tal settlement, though the army said its residents are expected to leave voluntarily by the end of the day.

The confirmation from military spokesmen came as hundreds of troops, escorted by bulldozers, walked through Gaza's largest settlement, Neve Dekalim, to begin the forcible removals. Settlers set dumpsters on fire outside the settlement's synagogue in an attempt to block the troops.

"Our forces are entering Neve Dekalim and several other settlements," said the military commander of the Gaza sector, Maj. Gen. Dan Harel. "We will take this slowly. We hope that at the end of the day, we will still be strong."

CBS News Correspondent David Hawkins reports that most of the soldiers are not carrying weapons. They intend to overwhelm any resistance with sheer numbers: for every protestor or settler, there are also five policeman or soldiers.

Police said knots of demonstrators blocked road junctions in southern Israel and were dispersed. More than a dozen were detained for defying police orders to leave.

Jewish settlers have vowed to resist the pullout peacefully. But officials estimate Jewish extremists from outside Gaza, many of them fervently religious teenagers, have infiltrated the settlements in recent weeks.

But not all are teenagers.

"I'm a 64-year-old grandmother. I have nine grandchildren and they're going to have to take me out bodily," Rachel Saperstein told CBS News. "This is one grandma who is not going to go quietly."

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