Troops lower Israeli flag over Gaza

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip -- Israeli troops lowered their national banner and snapped farewell photos in the final phase of the historic Gaza pullout Sunday as Palestinians began celebrating nearby, eager to take control after 38 years of Israeli military occupation.\nThe first army convoys left Gaza after sundown Sunday. Military jeeps and armored bulldozers drove slowly through the Kissufim crossing point, marking the beginning of the end of Israel's presence in Gaza.\nHundreds of Palestinians celebrated outside abandoned Jewish settlements, beating drums as they waited for the opportunity to go in. Mosques blared chants praising the "liberation" and fireworks lit up the sky.\nBut the withdrawal, code-named "Last Watch," was overshadowed by Israeli-Palestinian disputes, including over border arrangements and Israel's last-minute decision not to demolish Gaza synagogues. The army was forced to cancel a former handover ceremony, initially set for Sunday, after angry Palestinians said they would not show up.\nThere also was concern about last-minute bloodshed. A 12-year-old boy was among four Palestinians wounded by Israeli army fire when a crowd got too close to the abandoned Gush Katif bloc of Jewish settlements. The Israeli commander in Gaza, Brig. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, warned against last-minute hitches, urging soldiers in a final meeting not to lose their cool or open fire hastily.\nMaj. Gen. Dan Harel, the head of Israel's southern command, said Palestinians fired shots during an official ceremony closing the Gaza division headquarters in the abandoned settlement of Neve Dekalim. He warned there were indications that militants might try to attack withdrawing troops.\n"We are trying to thwart them," Harel told The Associated Press. "As we speak now there are shots being fired in several different places."\nThe Palestinian Authority was working with the army to control the situation, he said. Israeli and Palestinian security officers agreed late Sunday that as Israelis pull out, they will leave a trail of green triangular flags behind them, indicating the path the Palestinians should take as they enter, Israeli security officials said.\n"The gate that will close behind us is also the gate that will open," Kochavi said during the departure ceremony in Gaza. "We hope it will be a gate of peace and quiet, a gate of hope and goodwill, a gate of neighborliness and if a bad wind breaks through, then we will greet it with a force of troops ready and waiting."\nThe withdrawal marks the first time the Palestinians will have control over a large, defined territory. T Gaza is seen as a testing ground for Palestinian aspirations of statehood, but many Palestinians fear that after the Gaza pullout, Israel will not hand over additional territory.\nIn the ruins of Neve Dekalim, once the largest Jewish settlement in Gaza, Israeli troops held the somber central farewell ceremony, saluting, lowering the Israeli flag and singing the national anthem as they closed army headquarters in Gaza.\nThe departure is a "historic opportunity for a better future for both peoples," Harel told the audience, including parents whose sons were killed in fighting with Palestinians in Gaza.The Palestinians want full control over the Gaza-Egypt border after Israel's withdrawal, saying free movement of people and goods is essential for rebuilding Gaza's shattered economy. Israel wants to retain some control, at least temporarily, fearing that militants will smuggle weapons into Gaza.