UPDATE FROM THE ELECTRONIC INTIFADA COVERAGE OF THE GAZA “DISENGAGEMENT” PROCESS

electronicIntifada.net

25 August 2005

EI COVERAGE OF THE GAZA “DISENGAGEMENT” PROCESS electronicintifada.net/bytopic/379.shtml

EI BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE GAZA “DISENGAGEMENT” electronicintifada.net/bytopic/259.shtml

DESPITE EVACUATION OF SETTLERS, PALESTINIANS STILL UNDER SIEGE PCHR, 25 August 2005

Israeli occupation forces maintain control of settlements and military posts as they demolish evacuated buildings and dismantle military posts. Palestinian civilians living near the evacuated settlements pay the “disengagement” bill. Field-workers from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights report from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Israeli forces have continued to demolish structures in the evacuated settlements in the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank, two days following the official announcement ending the evacuation of settlers. The demolition process is taking place while a suffocating closure is being imposed on Palestinian communities in the areas close to the evacuated settlements.

electronicintifada.net/v2/article4134.shtml

WITH GAZA PULLOUT ENDING, ISRAEL, PALESTINIANS MUST REMAIN TRUE TO ROAD MAP, SAYS UN UN DPI, 25 August 2005

With the first stage of Israel’s “watershed” disengagement from the Gaza Strip nearly completed – although the work for security forces on both sides is far from over – Ibrahim Gambari, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, told the Security Council today during its regularly monthly briefing on the situation in the Middle East. But while Israel’s “bold” first withdrawal is welcome, the situation elsewhere in the occupied Palestinian territory continues to fester, Mr. Gambari warned, with many Palestinians fearing that Israel is consolidating its occupation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. “It would be unwise to lose sight of the concern of mainstream Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank that their legitimate aspirations may be put off indefinitely.”

electronicintifada.net/v2/article4131.shtml

ISRAELI EXIT FUELS HOPE FOR GAZA ECONOMY Laila El-Haddad, 25 August 2005

As the Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip draws to a close, hopes for economic prospects in this impoverished, strife-torn land have been renewed. Already, the EU has pledged investments in Gaza, with 700 million-800 million euros of mainly infrastructure projects by June, according to Antoine Eric de Haulleville, head of the EU’s International Management Group mission in Palestine. But Gaza’s prospects of economic success are clouded if it remains cut off from the West Bank and from the rest of the world after the Israeli withdrawal, experts have said. According to the World Bank, a lot more than dollars and disengagement is needed if the Palestinian economy, now in shambles, is to revive.

electronicintifada.net/v2/article4132.shtml

NOT SO DISENGAGED IN BURQA Ben Granby, 25 August 2005

There will be no celebrations in Burqa. This small northern West Bank town of 4,000 should have every reason to revel in the demographic shift imposed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s “Disengagement Plan”: the neighboring Israeli settlement of Homesh was cleared of its residents on August 23. But the reality for Burqa, as well as other Palestinian villages in the areas of the West Bank recently evacuated by Israel, is that little will change. There is no plan to return the land. According to its municipality, Burqa once boasted a population of over 30,000, but numerous pressures induced people to emigrate to Nablus, which lies about 10 km to the south.

electronicintifada.net/v2/article4130.shtml

ISRAEL ORDERS PALESTINIAN LAND SEIZED Khalid Amayreh, 24 August 2005

Israel has issued orders to seize Palestinian-owned land to link a main Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank to Jerusalem, officials say, a step that could isolate Palestinians from Jerusalem. An Israeli government spokesman on Wednesday said orders were issued to seize four Palestinian-owned tracts of land around Maale Adumim, the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank, last Thursday, Reuters reported. The planned Maale Adumim section of the barrier Israel is building in the West Bank has raised alarm in Washington because of Israel’s stated intention to build homes in Maale Adumim joining it to Jerusalem, 8km away. By looping in the enclave, Israel would effectively seal Palestinians off from east Jerusalem, which they want as their capital.

electronicintifada.net/v2/article4133.shtml

USAID AGREES TO TRANSFER $50 MILLION TO PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY

USAID, 24 August 2005

The US adminstration and Palestinian leaders have signed an agreement for the transfer of $50 million in direct assistance to the Palestinians. The U.S. officials made a formal announcement with Minister of Finance Salam Fayyad at the Palestinian Prime Minister’s office on Wednesday. The agreement between the Palestinian Ministry of Finance and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) underlines U.S. confidence in the Palestinian Authority’s reform program and aims to ensure that the Gaza disengagement is a success.

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THE “DISENGAGEMENT” AS SEEN FROM GAZA Ghada Ageel, 23 August 2005

In 2002, Moshe Ya’alon, then Israel’s army chief of staff, said that “the Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people.” “I wonder if Ya’alon would make the same statement today after the completion of Gaza settlers evacuation?” asks EI contributor Ghada Ageel who was born and lives in Gaza’s Khan Yunis refugee camp. Whether right or wrong, says Ageel, whether Ya’alon likes it or not, today most Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and in the diaspora, young or old, women and men do feel in the deepest recesses of their hearts that they are the victors.

electronicintifada.net/v2/article4121.shtml

HAMAS RALLY CELEBRATES GAZA ‘VICTORY’ Laila El-Haddad, 23 August 2005

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has held its first official victory celebration, wasting no time after the Israeli army reported that the last Gaza settlement was evacuated on Monday. The movement’s leaders seized the opportunity of the demonstration to reiterate their right to continue their resistance and their refusal to disarm. About 30,000 Palestinians rallied throughout Gaza City on Monday night in the largest celebration so far since the beginning of the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The rally also marked the anniversary of the attempted burning of al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem in 1969 and the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Abu-Shanab.

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MORE SETTLER VIOLENCE AS ISRAEL CONTINUES TO IMPOSE ON GAZA STRIP PCHR, 23 August 2005

Closures and checkpoints continue to limit access across the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Meanwhile serious settler attacks in which civilians are injured continue to go unreported in the media. The occupying forces have continued to cause damage to property belonging to Palestinian civilians. Palestinian civilians continue to be victims of attacks by Israeli settlers who go unpunished by the military. Israeli occupation forces prevented Palestinian fishermen from fishing in the Sheikh Ejlin area in the south of Gaza City due to the evacuation of Israeli settlers from the Netzarim settlement. Fieldworkers from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights report from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

electronicintifada.net/v2/article4122.shtml

WEST BANK SITUATION REPORT UN OCHA, 23 August 2005

On 22 August, settlers marched up from Khomesh to Sa’nur along road 60 and attempted to enter the Palestinian villages of Silat adh Dhar, Al Fandaqumiya, al Asa ‘asa and ‘Ajja along the road. The settlers reportedly knocked on the doors of Palestinian trying to enter their homes. All movement into Israel proper for Palestinian workers and traders has been suspended, and will remain suspended until end of the disengagement. Family visits from the area to Palestinian prisoners held in Israel have been suspended. The Governor of Jenin has appealed to the UN and ICRC for a presence in the villages closest to the settlements such as Silat adh Dhahr, Al Fandaqumiya, Jaba’ and Al Asa’asa to show support for the Palestinian community and reassure them in the face of settler harassment.

electronicintifada.net/v2/article4127.shtml

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