Settlers believe evacuation betrays God's will

What has the Palestinian reaction been to the disengagement? How have they helped ease the process?
As far as the Palestinians are concerned, of course it’s a great victory for them. It’s just a start, but they have been rather impressed.

I saw an interview with Mohammad Dahlen today and he said basically, hats off to Ariel Sharon. At least he is a man who carries out his word and you can believe what he says. He started the settlements and now he is finishing the settlements in Gaza. So, that was the official Palestinian reaction from Dahlen.

That does indicate that in the future, the Palestinians will believe that if Sharon wants to continue progress with the evacuation, he’s the man to do it.

How have the Palestinians helped ease the process?
So far they have helped. The great fear of the Israelis was that the Palestinian militant groups would follow the Israelis with gunfire and rockets to make it look like the Israelis were running away.

Also with the big concentration of troops and people here suddenly, a lot of people could be hurt by those rockets. If that had happened, Israel said they probably would have invaded Gaza to stop more rockets. In fact, Israel has an invasion force standing by right now, to go into Gaza if necessary.

The fact that the Palestinian leadership promised calm, and so far has been the case, that is a major contribution by Palestinians to the smooth function of this process which so far has been very smooth indeed.   

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