| Residents of a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip have agreed to move to a community inside Israel and will begin the evacuation in March, an Israeli official said Sunday. Yonatan Bassi, head of the government administration in charge of Israel's planned withdrawal, on Sunday confirmed a deal had been reached with residents of Peat Sadeh last week. The community, located deep in the southern Gaza Strip, will be the first to be dismantled under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza next year. Bassi said a total of 25 Gaza families have finalized agreements with the government, 20 of them from Peat Sadeh. Although the deal affects a tiny percentage of the 8,200-strong settler population of Gaza, it would give Sharon an important boost. The settler leadership has pledged mass resistance to the evacuation, and Israeli officials are concerned about the possibility of violence. |