NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip – Israel is set to begin the most divisive operation in its recent history today. Military and police officers are expected to hand evacuation notices to each of the Gaza Strip’s 9,000 Jewish settlers, informing them that it is no longer legal for them to stay in places some of them have called home for nearly four decades. Many ignored a midnight deadline to leave the area, in hopes that soldiers might at the last moment refuse to carry out orders to remove Jews from their homes.

At midnight, Israeli army commanders closed the border to all civilian traffic at a checkpoint that controlled all entries into the Jewish parts of Gaza for the last 37 years, Kisufim Junction. “We closed the Strip according to the government’s decision,” the military deputy commander of the evacuation operation, General Guy Tzur, said.

Early yesterday, five Israeli soldiers were wounded when an Israeli tank returned Palestinian Arab fire aimed at the Kfar Darom settlement, but accidentally hit an Israeli armored personnel carrier, according to the AP.

A constant flow of cars and trucks left Gaza yesterday, some loaded with settlers’ personal belongings. General Tzur said that he hoped to complete the withdrawal in three weeks. Yet many were unwilling to leave. One rabbi even declared a new entity, the Jewish Authority of Gaza, in an attempt to disobey Israel’s laws.

A few hours earlier, in the central synagogue here in the largest town in the cluster of Jewish settlements in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, Gush Katif, residents were gathered for final Tisha B’av prayers. Tisha B’av has been marked by disaster throughout Jewish history, including the loss of the first and second temple in 586 B.C.E. and 70 C.E., respectively. Jewish national sovereignty was lost with them. A two-hour conversation among Israel’s top intellectuals took place yesterday at the official residence of President Katzav and was carried live by several news outlets. The topic of the debate, that the temple was lost because of Jewish infighting, according to tradition, was noted in Gush Katif, where some residents did more than pray yesterday, preparing for resistance.

After a day of Tisha B’av fasting, a 20-year resident of Neve Dekalim, Eli Karbassi, loaded an air-conditioning unit into a large truck parked in front of his home at the heart of town. He said he had yet to be convinced to pack up the rest of his belongings. “It will be hot,” he told The New York Sun when asked what he thought the next few days would hold.

“I came here when this was all sand,” he said, pointing to a row of red-roofed, one-story buildings with green front lawns. “This is painful.” But he said that only on the final day before the government was scheduled to begin what is known here as the “expulsion of Jews,” did his wife, Fanny, convince him, “for the sake of the children,” to think about moving and devising a plan for the future. He has yet to commit to leaving his home.

Even after the separation plan entailing evacuation of Israeli Jews out of Gaza and four settlements in the West Bank Shomron region has cleared all the legal hurdles at the Knesset and the courts, Mr. Karbassi refused to consider a settlement for a government issued compensation package of several hundred thousand dollars. “There might still be a miracle,” he said yesterday.

“This is not war,” chief of staff Brigadier General Dan Halutz told unit commanders in a final briefing yesterday. “We will act fairly, we will respect any reasonable request” from the settlers, he said, “But we will not give up until the mission, as was defined by the government, will be carried out.” The evacuation process is expected to continue through early September.

Many in Gush Katif, including several thousand Israelis who defied the law to come here in the last few weeks to express solidarity with the settlers, vowed to defend the settlements with their bodies, determined to thwart the plan. They also vowed to avoid violence.

“This is a popular, nonviolent resistance, like that of Martin Luther King and Gandhi,” said a three-year resident of Neve Dekalim, Nissim Haviv, who recently completed his army service. “I would never dream of hurting a soldier or policeman,” he told the Sun.

Juggling two cell phones and a walkie-talkie, and sporting a Galil submachine gun on his shoulder, Mr. Haviv was chatting with fellow settlers all over Gush Katif. “We are talking about handing back to the army the bullet proof vests” and other military-issued gear received over the years for self-protection, he told the Sun.

Israel Radio later announced that southern district police commander, Uri Bar-Lev, was able to secure a firearm handover deal with residents of nearby Kfar Darom, considered the most potentially violent settlements in Gush Katif, and therefore designated by the army for the first stages of the evacuation. All personal weapons belonging to the settlers would be collected at the town’s central square.

“If I was living here, I don’t think I would leave,” said New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who came along with several dozen other New Yorkers to show solidarity with Gush Katif. The idea, he told the Sun, was to “try to make it as difficult as possible” for Prime Minster Sharon to carry out the separation plan. Mr. Hikind said this did not include violence.

But at nearby Shirat Hayam, a local Rabbi, Aryeh Yitzhaki, promised “surprises” for the army. Since Israel has abandoned the settlers, he said at a makeshift press conference, “We declare the founding of the Jewish Authority of Gaza.” He then said, “Wait for big surprises. The Jews will win.”