In the ruins of the Palm Beach Hotel you get a powerful sense that an era is drawing to a close that Israel's attempt to settle its people on the Gaza Strip is in its last days. {{U}}(1) {{/U}} the fine sand in front of the beach hotel. But since the Palestinians launched their uprising against Israel the intifada— {{U}}(2) {{/U}} , Gaza has become a violent, dangerous place. People don't come on holiday anymore. The Palm Beach resort complex was abandoned {{U}}(3) {{/U}} The reception area and the dining room have been stripped of their fixtures and fittings. The wind off the sea blows in across floors {{U}}(4) {{/U}}. A similar fate awaits everything that Israel has built here—if {{U}}(5) {{/U}} in August, as planned. Some young settlers have been squatting in the hotel as it's decayed around them. For Elazaar Elchiam, life is good. He lives for nothing in {{U}}(6) {{/U}} The Mediterranean waves are just meters away, and Elazaar has a passion for surfing. {{U}}(7) {{/U}} in one of the nearby settlements— where red-roofed bungalows surrounded by lawns bake in the summer sun. Elazaar dreads the thought that this may well be his {{U}}(8) {{/U}} The settlers say Israel is making a mistake. That it's handing victory to the Palestinian militants who have been attacking Gush Katif for years. {{U}}(9) {{/U}} the possibility that the settler's homes will be treated as the spoils of victory by groups {{U}}(10) {{/U}} To prevent that, it's possible that the army will demolish everything in the days before the Israelis leave. Debbie Rosen, a mother {{U}}(11) {{/U}} in Gush Katif, said she hates the thought of her home being destroyed. But at the same time she couldn't bear the idea of what she called " {{U}}(12) {{/U}}" taking over the house as they celebrate Israel's retreat. Since the Israeli army captured Gaza {{U}}(13) {{/U}}—in the Six Day War—it's been occupied territory. When it moved civilian settlers into the Strip it was breaching the Geneva Conventions— {{U}}(14) {{/U}}. This means nothing to settlers like Debbie Rosen. She said she never thought of her home as being {{U}}(15) {{/U}}. For her, Gaza is part of the land that God promised the Jews. The occupation may mean nothing to the settlers of Gush Katif—but it means everything {{U}}(16) {{/U}} , in the Palestinian town of Khan Younis. For decades, for Palestinian families, the occupation {{U}}(17) {{/U}} and limits and humiliations in many areas of life—and it's hated. Along the western side of Khan Younis Israeli troops man watchtowers that are part of {{U}}(18) {{/U}} And the area has seen many clashes between the army and Palestinian militants. They frequently {{U}}(19) {{/U}} on the settler communities that they see as being so symbolic of the Israeli presence. The beach used to be an escape from the heat and {{U}}(20) {{/U}} of Khan Younis. But to keep the militants out of the settlement zone, the army has blocked the Palestinian road to the sea. Khan Younis has lost its beach.