Day 5:

Maybe it was a mistake for me to leave Gaza, because it is impossible for me to return. I think this is what settlers must feel also, multiplied by a thousand. I would like to have photographed today (Wednesday) in Gaza on the first day of expulsion, but I trusted my instincts to leave. I would have had to sleep two nights without adequate supplies, and then risk violence. In this heat, I decided it would be best for me to leave. The checkpoints have become even tighter, and reaching the border to Gaza as an independent journalist is impossible now.
After studying Israel and Palestine for the last six years, I am happy that I came here. I have developed a better understanding of the deep attachment the people here have for their land, and I had the chance to be in Gaza on the August 15th deadline, which is more than I expected.
(Above photo) A teary eyed settler is handed her compensation papers as her family leaves Gaza for the last time.