For some Israelis, it was good riddance to Gaza

Above a banner picture of stern-faced Israeli soldiers marching on Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, the mass-circulation daily Maariv threw in a slogan to rally readers: "We'll get through this together".

That was news to Israelis for whom the media-saturated forced evacuation from Gaza yesterday seemed a distant development - eliciting sympathy, perhaps, but little sense of solidarity.

"It's like we live in different worlds, Tel Aviv versus Gush Katif," said lawyer Dedi Cohen, in reference to the main Gaza settlement bloc, scene of often violent confrontations between diehard rightists and security forces who came to remove them.

"Over here we are living our lives as usual, while the Gaza settlers see themselves as fighting for their lives. With all due respect, I think this withdrawal was inevitable, the only sane thing to do," Mr Cohen, a Tel Aviv resident, said.

The first evacuation of settlements on land Palestinians want for a state may have been a dramatic moment for Israel, but at the height of the operation, its commercial television channels switched from live coverage to daily soap operas.

There was no sign of the massive traffic disruption opponents of the pull-out had long threatened. As security forces and settlers scuffled in the Gaza heat, it was another day at the beach in Tel Aviv.

Israelis continued to line up at Ben-Gurion international airport for the annual summer exodus to holiday spots abroad.

Polls show a narrow majority of Israelis support Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's vision of "disengaging" from conflict with the Palestinians by quitting Gaza and a corner of the West Bank, territories occupied since the 1967 Middle East war.

But ultranationalists call the pull-out a betrayal of Jewish claims on biblical land and a reward for Palestinian violence.

Images of sorrowful settlers being dragged out of their homes have stirred up emotions in a Jewish state which still clings to the frontier ethos with which it was founded.

"These are people of spirit and faith who, encouraged by the governments of Israel, went to a desert strip, planted a tree, and created a blooming garden with their sweat and blood," the biggest Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said in an editorial.

Yet another Israeli ideal is stronger still - mandatory military service and the belief that troops are above political controversy. The sight of some settlers cursing and pummelling hapless conscripts has curdled sympathy among many Israelis.

Army veterans often have bitter memories of long stints of dangerous duty in Gaza guarding the settlers.

Oren Naidek, a chemical factory supervisor in the northern city of Haifa, said soldiers should not be on the receiving end of settler violence.

"It's repugnant," said Mr Naidek, who described himself as a "reluctant supporter" of the Gaza withdrawal.

Also tempering the perception of settlers' trauma is the fact that those evacuated will receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in government relocation payouts - a windfall given that their Gaza enclaves were heavily subsidised for decades.

Making light of a plan that has polarised the Jewish state on ideological lines, a pair of radio disc jockeys ran a sketch in which they pretended to be settlers at a supermarket debating what size eggs are best for pelting police evacuation teams.

But a television satire which mocked right-wing activists marching to Gush Katif in a bid to bolster settler resistance there was widely panned as poorly timed and in bad taste.

"It seems that, even for those who are gloating over the evacuation of settlers, watching a parody of their struggle had an uncomfortable vibe," wrote Maariv reviewer Asaf Schneider.