"I am not your enemy. I served as an officer under you," the man told Brig. Gen. Erez Zuckerman, commander of the army unit waiting at the gate.

Zuckerman listened and wiped sweat off his brow, then hugged the young man. "We love you, you are part of us," he told the assembled settlers.

Resistance was much more subdued in the settlements of Nissanit, Elei Sinai and Dugit, secular communities in northern Gaza that were virtually empty.

In Nissanit, four soldiers came to the home of Yitzhak and Avigail Dadon, a couple in their 70s who said they would leave before the deadline. Avigail Dadon cried, and a female soldier stood up to hug her.

Two residents entered an abandoned home, took out a hammer and smashed the mirrors, doors and windows. Some homes were covered in graffiti, including one that read "Sharon is a Nazi."

Soldiers also had eviction notices for four small West Bank settlements slated for evacuation. They chose not to enter two of the communities, Sanur and Homesh, where hard-line extremists were holed up. The army instead planned to hand the orders to community leaders.

Abbas issued a statement praising the pullout but said it must be followed by more.

"The Israeli withdrawal which starts today is a very important and historical step, but it is an initial step that should take place not only in Gaza, but in the West Bank and East Jerusalem," he said.

The Palestinians fear the withdrawal is a ploy by Sharon to get rid of areas he doesn't consider crucial to Israel while consolidating control of parts of the West Bank, where the vast majority of the 240,000 Jewish settlers live.