Netzarim, Gaza Strip — The last Jewish settler left in Gaza has experience with loss.
His family was evacuated from the Sinai desert when Israel handed it back to Egypt. After moving to Gaza, his father and sister-in-law were killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Still, Hanan Visner had hoped to stay here forever. As it turned out, he got one extra night.
The blond-bearded school teacher and his wife, Dvora, were still packing up their 11 children Monday when the last bus left from Netzarim, the last Gaza settlement to be evacuated.
Somehow, Israeli soldiers going house-to-house missed theirs.
"It was a mistake," said Visner, who will leave on Tuesday with Israeli troops.
The Visners are a footnote to Israel's turbulent 38-year occupation of the Gaza Strip as well as its historic withdrawal, a move certain to alter the course of Mideast politics.
Settlers evacuated earlier from Netzarim carry the Menorah removed from the settlement's synagogue during a protest march in front of Jerusalem's Western Wall late Monday.
As the last settlers were bused to Israel, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for a five-minute conversation - their first in two months - in which they mutually pledged to continue peace efforts, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.
Meanwhile, thousands of Israeli troops surrounded two settlements in the West Bank, where some 2,000 extremists have holed up with an arsenal of stun grenades, gas canisters and automatic weapons, defying orders to leave. The military said several dozen people were arrested throughout the day.
Troops were due to move into the West Bank settlements after dawn Tuesday, the next - and so far, riskiest - operation of Sharon's plan to "disengage" from the Palestinians. Israeli officers said they were prepared to use less restraint than they did in Gaza if the extremists get out of control.
Israel has occupied Gaza since capturing it from Egypt in the 1967 Mideast war. Home to 1.3 million mostly impoverished Palestinians, the Mediterranean coastal strip has been devastated by frequent battles between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.
"We completed today the evacuation of the Israeli presence from the Gaza Strip," said Maj. Gen. Dan Harel, head of Israel's southern command. He said it would take several weeks before the military dismantles its bases and hands over the territory to the Palestinians.
"We don't plan to allow any Palestinians into the area until the evacuation process is complete and we feel we are ready."
The Gaza pullout marks the first time Israel is abandoning territory claimed by the Palestinians for their future state. The settlers will receive an average of $200,000-$300,000 in compensation.
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