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Post by Moses on May 23, 2005 20:00:55 GMT -5
w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m
Last update - 02:21 23/05/2005A matriculation exam for democracyBy Amram Mitzna Ever since the disengagement plan was approved by the government, its execution has become a matriculation exam for Israeli democracy. The events of the past few weeks on the highways of the country are only a harbinger of what is yet to come. The closer we get to the date of the pullout, the more it seems that we are facing even greater tests. The rightists are trying to be physically and emotionally influential in their efforts to get across the dangerous message that the disengagement cannot be executed. On the one hand, the settlers, who had been strangers to most Israelis and were perceived as a gang of deluded extremists, have managed to enter the Israeli consensus and engender identification with their pain and struggle among broad sections of the public. They were transformed from extremist settlers into the envoys of Israeli governments - new Zionists who settled the country and who are paying a steep personal price for it. That transformation makes it difficult to support their removal. On the other hand, the ideological right, which opposes any compromise agreement with the Palestinians and sanctifies land more than it does life itself, is turning ever more extreme in its activities and distancing itself from the majority that supports disengagement. It is creating a split that endangers Israeli democracy and exposes an ugly nationalistic face that must be met with all due force. Obstruction of roads is an instrument that will legitimize the most extreme actions by individuals. The most recent example is how the telephone lines were cut at a courthouse to obstruct the work of judges who were trying some of those arrested for blocking roads. Sabotage of the telephone lines in a courthouse is sabotage of democracy. That is not an exaggeration or a play on words. With all due understanding of the settlers, it is impossible to allow an extremist minority to disrupt life in the country with illegal actions. Legitimate, legal, nonviolent protest - yes. Trampling over the law, incitement and rejecting the democratic process that approved the disengagement process - no. Eran Sternberg, spokesman for Gush Katif, said last week that the State of Israel had ceased being democratic, so the extremist resistance is therefore legitimate. Such statements grant legitimacy to the coming disaster because if Israel is no longer a democracy, force can be used to remove the dictator who heads it. The press, which is supposed to protect democracy, must transmit to the Israeli public a balanced picture and be cautious about creating empathy for lawbreakers by presenting them as victims. The settlers are not the victims. The soldiers sent to Gaza are the victims. A million-and-a-quarter Palestinians living in the most densely populated area in the world, and in terrible poverty across the way from the red rooftops of Gush Katif, are victims. The State of Israel made the correct decision, which will improve its military and economic situation. The decision was then turned into a law that must now be respected like all the laws of the country. The goals of the disengagement opponents is to stop the plan by besmirching the legality of the process that led to the acceptance of the plan by the Knesset and by intimidating the citizens of Israel. Israeli society must understand that the ramifications of non-implementation of the plan are graver and more dangerous to the State of Israel and its society than the ramifications of its execution. It is our duty to prevent the nightmare in which a sovereign government is not able to execute its democratic decisions because of a radical minority that uses threats and violence. If that were to happen, it would lead to the end of democracy and to utter anarchy. A democratic regime that cannot implement its own decision will turn all its citizens into victims.
The writer is an MK from the Labor Party.
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Post by Moses on May 23, 2005 20:30:54 GMT -5
May 23, 2005
In New York, Sharon Finds Division Over Gaza PulloutBy JENNIFER MEDINA When Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel addressed an audience of more than 1,000 Jewish leaders yesterday in Manhattan, the crowd roared with applause as he spoke of the strong ties between America and Israel. But just as the crescendo began to peak, when Mr. Sharon spoke of his plan to withdraw Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, a handful of hecklers stood up and taunted him. "Jews don't expel other Jews," one shouted from the middle of the auditorium of Baruch College, where the speech was given, before a security official escorted him out. Hundreds of protesters stood outside the doors as Mr. Sharon spoke, saying they opposed any plans to remove settlers from Gaza, which the prime minister says will improve security and further the peace effort with the Palestinians. In many ways, the scene echoed the emotional debate over the disengagement plan that has been evident in Israel for months. While the organizers of Mr. Sharon's speech emphasized that most American Jews support the pullout, scheduled for August, other opinions were apparent yesterday. "The coming period will be one of the most difficult periods which the state of Israel has known since its establishment," Mr. Sharon said during his speech. "We do not need volunteers to fight military battles, but we do need a willingness to stand with us and to fully support us." For most of his speech, Mr. Sharon maintained his usual stoic stance, rarely varying from his script. But when the hecklers, spread throughout the auditorium, continued to shout, Mr. Sharon paused and smiled as he acknowledged the disturbance. When Mr. Sharon finished, James S. Tisch, the chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, apologized for the interruption. He told the audience, "The noisy minority does not reflect the view of the vast majority of American Jews." But a beaming Mr. Sharon seemed almost delighted by the show of opposition, saying that the outburst proved that "one cannot defeat the Jews." Mr. Sharon's speech, his first in New York in more than three years, came at the start of a three-day visit to the United States focused on bolstering support for Israeli policies among American Jews. Mr. Sharon is also to address leaders at an American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington this week. Many Jewish leaders have been reluctant to come out either in strong support or in opposition to Mr. Sharon's plan. Yesterday's event was sponsored by UJA-Federation of New York, the United Jewish Communities and the Conference of Presidents. The three groups represent Jews from across the religious and political spectrum, and leaders were careful not to bill yesterday's event as an explicitly pro-disengagement rally. "This is not an issue that is being played out and decided here," said Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents, an umbrella group of more than 50 organizations. The group has supported Mr. Sharon's plan, but has not begun any major campaign to garner additional support. Because President Bush and other American leaders have already supported the plan, there is no need for a major public campaign until the pullout begins, Mr. Hoenlein said. Among the speakers outside the auditorium rallying in opposition to Mr. Sharon's plan was Rabbi Benny Elon, a member of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, who has been one of the pullout's most outspoken critics. "We know it's against the promise God gave us," Mr. Elon said. "We are not allowed to give in and give up." The crowd formed a sea of orange, the color settlers have chosen to symbolize their opposition to the pullout. Most of the protesters at the opposition rally called themselves religious Zionists and had often been among Mr. Sharon's most ardent supporters. "He has sold out on his principles and turned his back on us," said Norman Bertram, who said his family planned to move to Israel from Flatbush, Brooklyn, within the next two years. "What are these people supposed to do with the lives that they've created? Sharon pioneered their effort and now he leaves them."
Colin Moynihan contributed reporting for this article.
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Post by Moses on Jun 27, 2005 23:33:06 GMT -5
A significant impressionThe security establishment is expressing satisfaction with the operation to demolish abandoned buildings in the Gaza settlement of Shirat Hayam, but there is no visible reason for joy. What's important is not the bulldozers' success in destroying the structures, but the way in which television viewers saw the events Sunday evening. Senior military and government officials repeatedly say they have an organized procedure, that the evacuation will go as planned, and that the soldiers due to participate in the pullout are being trained for this kind of activity, which is more like police work than combat. But that does not appear to be the case, based on the way in which the procedure was carried out Sunday afternoon. There were too few police officers in the field, leaving clashes with right-wing activists to fall on the soldiers, who looked as though they were setting out for an operation in enemy territory, burdened with unnecessary and heavy equipment. The soldiers said they had not been briefed on possible skirmishes with settlers. There was no need for sophisticated intelligence to anticipate the struggle between those carrying out the evacuation and the right-wing activists who are in the area all the time. These kinds of disputes will be routine for the army and police from now on. It is the right wing that determines when the inevitable clashes will take place, and the army and police can do nothing but always be prepared. With the beginning of the summer one can assume that anti-pullout activity will become the most popular camp in the country. There is no lack of youths prepared to lie under bulldozers and provoke skirmishes. The soldier who refused evacuation orders [an American], and whose picture graced the front pages of all the national newspapers, is no trivial matter. Refusal, assault, invective and the settlers' provocation of soldiers and police officers cannot be eradicated from reality by any single method. An armed soldier pushing a youth and a police officer pulling a woman and boy from their home can only be viewed in the context of those actions. The government must establish a more persuasive public relations campaign that will explain why such images appear on the screen and who can prevent them from being repeated. But the government is making no effort to explain what it is doing. It appears that all the politicians, including those who support the disengagement, are - unusually - not paying attention to what is shown on TV. If Ariel Sharon had appeared before the public more often, had sat in the television studio and explained why staying in Gaza was not advisable and why settlers who hit soldiers were not distinguished Zionists but violators of the law, he might have dulled the depressing impression made by the images in the field. The uninhabited buildings, known by the settlers as Shirat Hayam, were demolished in two hours, but the impression of the operation - which constitutes the opening shots of the evacuation - is what's most significant. Hours after the operation, youths arrived at the site to declare a new outpost. There is no doubt: The settlers have taken the initiative. They determine the evacuation agenda, the level of violence, and even the interpretation of events, via well-spoken and intransigent spokespeople. The establishment has so far been reacting to the settlers, but it must begin moving away from the defense position.
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Post by Moses on Jun 29, 2005 12:32:18 GMT -5
(Note misleading headline in The Guardian. The accurate headline would be: "Israeli Settlers turn on Palestinians) Jewish Settlers, Palestinians Spark Melee Wednesday June 29, 2005 5:46 PM
AP Photo JRL102
By YANIV ZOHAR
Associated Press Writer SHIRAT HAYAM, Gaza Strip (AP) - Jewish settlers enraged by a clash with Israel troops near this settlement turned on Palestinians, touching off a violent melee that left at least three people wounded, including one Palestinian in critical condition. Palestinians responded by hurling rocks at the settlers, and soldiers fired in the air to separate the sides, the army said. The settlers had been holed up in an abandoned Palestinian home, and the army declared the area a closed military zone. Troops prepared to move in to evict the Jewish squatters, witnesses said. In Israel, a planned nationwide protest fizzled after thousands of police were out in force to keep highways open. Protesters blocked the entrance to Jerusalem, a highway near Tel Aviv and a Haifa intersection, but the actions were no more than briefly inconvenient to motorists - falling short of pullout opponents' hopes. Earlier, demonstrators managed to briefly block the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway when they threw oil and nails on the road. The violence drew sharp condemnation from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who called on authorities to use an ``iron fist'' against extremists who he said are threatening to divide the country. Israel plans to withdraw from Gaza and four small West Bank settlements in mid-August, uprooting about 9,000 Jewish settlers from their homes. While mainstream settler groups say they will resist only through civil disted shortly after Israeli soldiers tried to remove about 20 young settlers who holed up in an abandoned Palestinian house earlier this week. The settlers set up the outpost after troops demolished 11 nearby buildings that the army said were going to be used as centers of resistance during the Gaza pullout. Dozens of Jewish youths exchanged blows with soldiers, and troops dragged several youths through the sand into a waiting army vehicle. Police arrested at least eight people, officials said. Following the incident, settlers moved outside and headed toward the nearby Palestinian area of al-Mawasi. ``They were throwing stones, destroying our houses,'' said Ahmed Laham, a Palestinian resident. An Associated Press reporter saw group of settlers beat a Palestinian, leaving the man lying motionless on the ground. Moments later, the man was seen getting to his feet. Hospital officials said a Palestinian was critically wounded after being hit in the head by stones. The army said one soldier and one settler were slightly wounded. Earlier Wednesday, extremist opponents of the pullout scattered nails and oil across the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway, disrupting traffic and damaging several cars. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. ``When we find out who did this we will deal with them with the full force of the law. This could have caused a terrible accident,'' Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra told Israel Radio. ``We will act with all the power we have to prevent these road blockings,'' Ezra said. An extremist group called ``National Home'' announced plans to block more than a dozen highways at 5 p.m. Wednesday, during evening rush hour. The group stopped traffic last month, sending teenagers and children to sit down on roads behind burning tires. Dozens were arrested. National Home condemned Wednesday morning's protest and said it was not involved. ``This is a dangerous provocation that endangers lives and runs contrary to our principles of nonviolent civil disobedience,'' the group said. The main Gaza settlers' group also condemned the protest. Also Wednesday, police said they had arrested a number of opponents of the withdrawal who were planning to disrupt water and electricity supplies. At a meeting with senior members of his Cabinet, Sharon angrily denounced the mounting violence. ``We cannot allow gangs to undermine the country,'' Sharon said, according to participants. ``We have to act with an iron fist against hooligans.'' Sharon also said hard-line rabbis who urge their followers to resist the evacuation should be punished. Many opponents of the withdrawal are Orthodox Jews, who accuse Sharon of giving up land promised to the Jews in the Bible. Despite the vocal resistance, many settlers are coming to terms with their impending move. A farmer on Wednesday began dismantling his greenhouses in the Gadid settlement, the first member of Gaza's powerful agricultural community to take concrete steps to prepare for the move. Salim Michaeli said he was folding up his 60 greenhouses while he negotiates with the government over a new place for them inside Israel. Gaza is one of the country's most profitable farming areas, exporting such goods as vegetables and flowers to Europe. Sharon has also warned the Palestinians against attacking soldiers or settlers during the withdrawal, promising harsh retaliation.
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Post by Moses on Jul 3, 2005 16:49:23 GMT -5
West Bank Terrorists have traveled to Gaza to dig in w/ Gaza settlers, and, in the shoe on other foot category: "And whatever you say, Sharon seems only interested in creating violent situations that make us settlers look bad." -- Gush Katif spokesman. Sun 3 Jul 2005 Far-right Israelis regroup to wreck pull-out ANNETTE YOUNG IN JERUSALEM ULTRA-NATIONALIST Israelis are planning to intensify their violent protests against the forced withdrawal of settlers from Gaza. The Israeli police and army are braced for an increase in tension after last week's confrontation which saw a group of demonstrators ejected from a derelict hotel which had become a centre of fierce resistance against Israel's withdrawal from the area. "We're much uplifted by what happened with the government needing thousands of soldiers to remove just 85 people from the hotel," one of the leading anti-disengagement protestors, Nadia Matar, told Scotland on Sunday. "This is just a taste of what's to come." Last Thursday, the government sealed off the Gaza Strip for 24 hours and called in the army to forcibly remove dozens of Jewish extremists from a hotel near one of the Jewish settlements. The order was issued after a group of extremists took over an Arab house in a Palestinian village near the Gush Katif settlement bloc in southern Gaza, resulting in violent clashes with local Palestinians and Israeli security forces. As violent demonstrations against the Gaza pullout escalate across the country - including protesters spreading oil and nails across the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway - hundreds of supporters from the West Bank have in recent weeks joined the settlers in Gaza. Renamed the Stronghold by the Sea, the Palm Beach resort with its spectacular view of the Mediterranean had become the adopted home of a coalition of far-right groups opposing disengagement. It was also reported some of the hotel's new residents had links to the outlawed Kach movement, a Jewish extremist organisation designated a terrorist group by the US State Department. But with the hotel now closed to public access, Matar said the plan was for "100 people to be in each home of every settler when the soldiers come to evacuate them". When queried as to how this would happen given the government had stated it would seal off Gaza again without notice, Matar said the protestors would rely "on the family and friends of settlers to join them in their homes". "Thursday's action has proved just how impossible it will be to uproot entire communities here in Gaza," she added. "And the moment Gaza is sealed off indefinitely, hundreds of thousands of our supporters from all over the country will make their way here and tear down the fence [separating Gaza from the rest of Israel]." Some of the local Gaza settlers have resented the hardline action of their West Bank supporters. "But not all of those who have come here from the West Bank to help our cause are violent," said Eran Sternberg, a spokesman for the Gush Katif regional council, when asked if this had become a problem. "And whatever you say, Sharon seems only interested in creating violent situations that make us settlers look bad." On Friday, the Israeli military lifted its closure of Jewish settlements in Gaza but kept some limitations in place to prevent an influx of equipment and goods that might be used for another confrontation with security forces. Most of those behind the protests are Zionists who vehemently oppose Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's controversial plan to withdraw more than 8,000 settlers from Gaza and several hundred others from four settlements in the West Bank, beginning on August 15. Israeli sources said Thursday's action was also an attempt by Sharon to project an image of strength at a time when polls showed public support for his disengagement plan was wavering. Sharon strongly defended his plan last Thursday, declaring it was time to "leave Gaza in order to build Israel". The prime minister harshly condemned the extremists "who are trying to intimidate Israeli society and tear it to shreds by means of violence against both Jews and Arabs, injuring Muslim sensibilities and symbols, hooliganism and refusal [of army orders]. "We will deal harshly with these phenomena, because they threaten our very existence here as a Jewish and democratic state," he added. With less than six weeks to go before disengagement, the Israeli parliament will vote next Wednesday on a bill submitted by a right-wing MP calling for withdrawal to be postponed for a year. If the bill is voted down, it will mean no other similar bills will be debated before the start of the operation. And as politicians make their last attempt to thwart the pullout, constructors are frantically building temporary homes in a number of areas adjacent to the Gaza Strip in readiness for the settlers. Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has invited Hamas militants to join his cabinet to help ensure a peaceful handover. Abbas extended the offer after Hamas demanded a special committee be formed to oversee the transfer of powers in Gaza. Abbas invited them to join his Cabinet instead. This article: www.scotsman.com/?id=730892005
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Post by Moses on Jul 4, 2005 19:37:09 GMT -5
Welcome to Costa-del-Gaza Eoin Murray 4 - 7 - 2005 What will Gaza become after Israeli occupation? Eoin Murray reports on embattled Jewish settlers and Palestinian fears. When Alexander the Great reached the southeast Mediterranean he encountered resistance along the coast of what is now Israel. To deter any other rebellious towns he crucified 2,000 men, and from that point town after town surrendered to him unconditionally. Then he reached Gaza. The local population made it clear that he was unwelcome and began an intense military campaign against him. Eventually, as many people in Gaza will happily remind you, Alexander left having contracted the disease that would eventually kill him. There have been many subsequent invasions – Napoleon, the Ottomans, the British – in this narrow strip of territory into which 1.4 million Palestinians and 8,000 Israeli settlers are now squeezed. The poverty-stricken Palestinian population and the Israeli settlers (and the soldiers who protect them) who control about 45% of the land are the two sides of present-day Gaza. But neither population is united; the divisions within each are as real as those between them. Outside the Gaza strip the settlers have plastered the highways and byways of Israel labelling their prime minister, Ariel Sharon, a traitor, for his plan to withdraw them by August. They have initiated an effective grassroots campaign across the country using orange ribbons as their symbol. Some of their more virulent tactics have come in for heavy criticism (nine Israeli generals, whose parents survived the Nazi holocaust, expressed their disgust at attempts by some settlers to link the removal of settlements with that catastrophe). The settlers themselves are far from homogeneous. They include religious Zionists from Hebron, growing in numbers in the southern part of the Gaza settlement blocs, who believe that disengagement is denial of the will of God; but there are also social-welfare recipients with their bags packed and ready to go upon payment of their substantial compensation packages. The recent scenes of settlers attacking Israeli soldiers and stoning Palestinian civilians have shocked official Israel. Israeli commentators have been quick to state that this uncovers the truth of settler behaviour inside the West Bank and Gaza strip for years. Even hardcore settlers in the Gush Katif bloc of settlements in the south of the strip publicly question why the Israeli military allowed these even more right-wing settlers into Gaza. Two polarised peoples The Palestinian civilian population exist around, but subjugated to, these settlers, in Gaza’s dense and decayed refugee camps. Among them there also exists a huge variety of opinions and attitudes to disengagement. Armed groups such as Hamas will be keen to prove that this is an Israeli withdrawal under fire; when the moment comes they may be unable to resist the opportunity to fire their crude home-made rockets into the settlements – perhaps when they are likely to inflict maximum casualties for maximum publicity. Alongside them are Palestinian NGOs who agree with Ephraim Sneh, member of the Knesset (Israeli parliament) and chief Sharon adviser, that disengagement will be “formaldehyde” for a Palestinian state – “liquid in which dead bodies are preserved.” Somewhere in the shadows is the shaken Palestinian National Authority – a body with little political or institutional power after the years of destruction following the outbreak of second intifada in 2000. Amidst this diversity, there is a rare unity between groups like Hamas and the Israeli settlement movement over the disengagement plan. Each side insists, albeit in the terms of their own language, that Israel is withdrawing because of military failure. Palestinian civil society’s views coincide remarkably with those of Dov Weisglass in believing that disengagement is a momentous setback for Israel. But such surface agreement belies the substantial divisions between Israelis and Palestinians that are being cemented by physical separation (it is illegal for Israeli citizens to enter the “occupied territories” and virtually impossible for Palestinians to enter Israel). The polarisation between the two peoples is being institutionalised, making communication with and understanding of the “other” an even more remote prospect. Palestine by the sea One of the few certainties of the plan is that as a result of an agreement brokered by the United States, the structures inside the settlements will be destroyed by the Israeli military. This is unquestionably the best solution for both sides. Despite the Israeli government having been fearful of a public-relations disaster (demolishing homes which the Palestinians badly need), the Palestinian National Authority were worried that the settlements’ well-appointed homes would be seized by unruly elements in a way that would tarnish its fading authority and do little to alleviate Gaza’s extraordinarily acute housing crisis. But what will come next? A long-term suggestion floated in the international community is to build a tourist-friendly “Costa-del-Gaza”. The suggestion that the special envoy James Wolfensohn may secure a deal to build a port connecting Gaza and Egypt, and an underground trench linking Gaza to the West Bank, may support this. But even if the reality that such construction is about institutionalising war rather then constructing peace is ignored, the fact remains that Gaza needs economic investment, work, and – more then anything – housing. The sheer lack of horizontal space to build on, a growth rate that on current trends will double Gaza’s population every eighteen years, and an Israeli military policy of house demolitions (1,200 homes in 2004 alone, according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights) contribute to this severe crisis. The value of land in Gaza, in financial and status terms, is colossal. Land is the prize of the wealthy, the powerful and the connected. Most refugees in Gaza, who are financially and socially excluded, feel a sense of dislocation from land. Some are reluctant to own land because of national sentiment; they believe they will one day return to their family lands inside what became (after the 1948 nakba) Israel. Most others are simply too poor to own land and will benefit substantially if the land inside the former settlement blocs can be converted into high-rise, low-cost housing. The symbolic opportunity for thousands of Palestinians to reclaim land, parts of which they have had no access to since 1967, and to live on this land, is irrefutably significant. The land where the settlements lie stretches across much of Gaza’s magnificent coastline; Israeli surfers have prized it for years for its hospitable waves and sandy beaches. But Palestinian civilians living in Gaza heard all this talk of “Costa-del-Gaza” and newfound freedoms during the Oslo process. The European Union and other donors poured money into the Gaza strip to the extent that it become the most aid-funded place per capita in the world. Yet only a few years later the Oslo Process, now almost completely exhausted, erupted into the second, al-Aqsa intifada. The clear failure to end the Israeli occupation and to include essential and basic human rights into the peace process can be attributed to Oslo’s failure and the violence that ensued. Over the coming years something similar is likely to happen. Gaza may well be transformed into an area packed with concrete towers housing desperate Palestinian families with some select beach hotels and surfing facilities. However, many Palestinian and international civil-society activists are now afraid of what might come next. Some families will welcome the housing, the access to the sea, possible associated income and living-space; but once the euphoria wears off they will realise that what Israeli human rights organisations B’tselem and Hamoked call “one big prison” will become an even bigger prison than before. For the security of Palestinians and Israelis alike this would sow not the seeds of peace but the seeds of further tragedy.
Copyright © Eoin Murray, Published by openDemocracy Ltd.
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Post by Moses on Jul 23, 2005 5:00:37 GMT -5
Friday, July 22, 2005 Reader Comment on Gaza Pullout Roger Wyatt writes from the U.K.' I find your blog enormously stimulating and admire your prolific output. Your comments on the Israeli colonisation of Palestinian land are spot on. During the first Palestinian intifada I was a volunteer at Kibbutz Kissufim just outside the Gaza Strip (ok, at that time I was a young Zionist symapthiser). I saw the Jewish settlements at Gush Katif in Gaza with my own eyes - smart condominiums surrounded by razor wire, literally within sight of Palestinian refugee camps and the new infrastructure (the Kissufim road) that was built to serve them. I'd be interested to know why the Jewish colonisers movement has chosen orange as the colour of their protest movement. Is there some unexplained significance to this choice?I might be wrong but looking at the picture on your blog titled 'They have made these nice colonies in Palestinian Gaza' that looks to me like a picture of a West Bank settlement. There is a suggestion of space in the background of that photo which I never saw in Gaza, where the only space is the beach. I imagine that you must already know the documentary comic book Palestine by Joe Sacco and the British documentary film Jeremy Hardy vs the Israeli Army, but if you've missed them they really are worth catching. ' posted by Juan @ 7/22/2005 01:37:00 PM
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