Israel says evacuations complete

Israel has evacuated the West Bank settlements of Sanur and Homesh, police said, completing the removal of settlers under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan for withdrawing from some occupied land.

Israeli soldiers evacuate settlers and their supporters in Homesh

As police on Tuesday declared the operation complete, they used a modified shipping container to lower last holdouts to the ground from the roof of an old British police station in Sanur.

Israel began its withdrawal last week from all 21 settlements in the occupied Gaza Strip and four of the 120 in the West Bank.

The evacuation from land Palestinians want for a state was completed well ahead of schedule. Despite widespread resistance from settlers and ultranationalist Jews, there has been little serious violence.

Source: Reuters