And people were hurt.

I saw two men, one who was hit on the head with a rock, the other hit in the eye with a bottle. The blood on the road by the car in this photo on the right is from the latter.

The look on the face of the one who was hit by the stone was poignant. He was obviously dazed, but also looked betrayed and angry. The thoughtlessness of the stone-throwers was mindboggling.

The inexperience of the Palestinian officials, who had failed to keep people clear of the area from which the jeeps leaving, was no comfort to him.

In the days prior to the Ramallah/Al-Bireh withdrawl, similar scenes had taken place in redeployment areas in the north. To avoid this in Nablus, the Israelis in fact left without warning, in the middle of the night.

This self-defeating effort to hit the Israelis 'one last time' gives some indication of the resentment that remains behind after 28 years of occupation. The wounds will take a long time to heal and it is this that must be addressed if there is to be real peace.