As Israel began the end of its 38-year occupation of the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in a televised address on Monday that the withdrawal was vital to Israel despite the pain it caused.‘‘The pain I feel with this act is the full realisation that we must do it,’’ Sharon said. ‘‘We cannot hold on to Gaza forever—more than a million Palestinians live there, crowded in hotbeds of hatred with no hope on the horizon.” Defiant Jewish settlers at Gaza’s most hardline settlements prevented soldiers from delivering 48-hour eviction notices on Monday.More than half of Gaza’s 8,500 settlers remained, reinforced by 5,000 ultranationalists who had infiltrated in the past few days.In an apparent bid to avoid early confrontations, the Army said it had decided not to go into five of the settlements, widely seen as bastions of resistance, until evacuation day.Under a rare agreement, 7,500 Palestinian securitymen in Gaza moved into position on the outskirts of the settlements to ward off possible militant attacks.Palestinian gunmen today abducted a French television journalist, the latest in a string of kidnappings of foreigners in the Gaza Strip.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the incident, saying the kidnappers would get the maximum punishment. In Ramallah, a Palestinian official announced that Parliamentary elections will be held on January 21. These are the first to be contested by the Islamic militant group Hamas.
