His house of 20 years stripped bare, Israeli settler Nahshon Halili removed the wooden sign with his family’s name on it from the front yard, kissed the soldiers who helped him load the car and drove off.‘‘Don’t cry, just say farewell to Morag,’’ said his wife, Yael, to three of their six children as they pulled away, followed by two military vehicles to escort them out of the Gush Katif settlement bloc in the occupied Gaza Strip.The Halilis were one of 10 families leaving the outlying religious settlement of Morag on Tuesday, heeding Army orders to evacuate before a midnight deadline under Israel’s plan to ‘‘disengage’’ from conflict with the Palestinians.Most families vowed to stay put and resist the evacuation of land they regard as a Biblical birthright, but overnight, 10 families from around 40 opted to go. ‘‘We and the other families decided to leave after we got the eviction warrants. We don’t want to fight the Army, we want to leave with our good memories,’’ said Halili, a founder of Morag, a dusty enclave once home to 221 people and lying near the shabby Palestinian town of Rafah, a militant stronghold.Halili said he would go to Nitzan, where a temporary camp is being set up. Israel is to evacuate all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip, where 8,500 Jews have lived surrounded by 1.4 million Palestinians on land captured in the 1967 war.Before he left, Halili and other settlers held an emotional farewell at the Morag community centre.Boys in orange T-shirts—the protest colour of the settlers—wrestled on the floor as Morag’s secretary, Naftali Yona, told those leaving they had nothing to be ashamed of.‘‘I thank you all for sticking together. You are heroes, the wives are heroes, the children are heroes,’’ he said, before breaking into violent sobs.A soldier, one of 50 attending who had helped protect Morag, put his arm around Yona to comfort him. At the end, settlers embraced and wept. Some lashed out at cameramen trying to film the emotion. Pictures painted by children of the settlement, depicting an idyllic rural setting, hung on the walls.‘‘During the last few days it’s been difficult for the Army and the settlers. It’s been the most emotional mission for us,’’ said Lieutenant-Colonel Nadav Lishzinker.Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said Israel must part with Gaza for the Jewish state’s own security. A majority of Israelis support the move.Halili, a 46-year-old farmer, carried out prized possessions himself, such as a large framed picture of Moses parting the Red Sea. One son, Aviv, wearing a blue skull cap, carried his skateboard to the family’s truck. As he sat there waiting, two of his friends passed by and gave him a high-five. A lemon tree protruded from the trunk of another car being used to help Halili move.Although some Morag settlers are leaving, most have vowed to stay, insisting they will have to be carried out. Food has been stockpiled to see them through. ‘‘We will do what anybody would do if someone tried to steal their child from their arms,’’ said Chaim Gross, a spokesman for the settlement. ‘‘We are going to hold our houses as tight as we can.’’ —Reuters
