THE SHARON'S GAZA PLAN
THE JEWISH POST LOOKS AT SOME OF THE GAZA PLAN INVOLVED ISSUES
The withdrawal will give away 8,000 Israeli homes.
"The Israelis don't mean what they say," said Khalil Mahfouz, a shopkeeper in Gaza. Selim Tabbah, a teacher in the Gaza trip is telling his students: "If the Israelis want to withdraw, that is fine, but we know very well, the Israelis don't stick to their word." Tabbah, even protested in the Market and summed up the mood on Market Street. Many protesters joined him at the market, including those who live and work in Jerusalem. Palestinians find it hard to believe that Israel may really be about to step back. "We never trust Ariel Sharon. Never. He's bitten us one thousand times. He plays games with us. There is no way in the world we can trust the Zionist" said a 65-year-old Ahmad Bashiri a butcher in Gaza. The withdrawal will give away approximately 8,000 Israeli homes. The press in Great Britain seems to side with the Palestinians in their concerns about effective global Israeli withdrawal. They claim that the space is badly needed by the 1.3 million Palestinians who are crammed into the rest of Gaza - making it one of the most crowded places in the world.
The Israeli occupation will continue.
Palestinians are demanding that the total Israeli forces of occupation should leave all the Palestinian lands and evacuate their watchtowers and checkpoints that cut the strip in two at Abu Houilly. But Palestinians say that even if all that happened, it would not mean that the occupation was over. Palestinians remain suspicious. "Sharon is just deceiving the world," says Raji Sourani, of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, in Gaza City. "He's not putting an end to the occupation. He's just deploying his troops in a different way. "The Israelis will continue to control the land, sea and air. There will be no port, and no airport. The Israelis will have full control of the movement of the people here, and their connections with the outside world." He says he sees Mr. Sharon's plan as a means of derailing the Palestinian dream of establishing a viable state in the West Bank and Gaza.
ARAB ORGANIZATIONS: ISRAEL IS STILL THE OCCUPYING MILITARY POWER
The Palestinian points of view of the legal issues pertaining to the proposed Israeli withdrawal are shared by the United States S-based organization, Human Rights Watch. The organization claims that Israel intends to maintain military control over Gaza and the Palestinian people, which would mean that Israel shall remain the occupying power in the eyes of the law. Arabs and Palestinians are worried, for they strongly believe that Israel will economically control Gaza. In addition to their serious concerns and continuous suspicions, Palestinians believe that people from Gaza who need to work in Israel will be cut off. Their biggest fear come from the possibility that Israel will close the roads to Jerusalem, this depriving the Palestinian workers from making a living. Mobs in the markets of Gaza were shouting :"We will die from hunger. We won't be able to do anything. We'll be in Allah's hands." Many Palestinians used to work in Israel as workers, clerks and bus drivers. Yousef Summan, a Palestinian bus driver said: " I used to earn good money as a bus driver in Israel. But now, everything came to an end. " The reason for possible closing the roads to Jerusalem is justified by the Israeli government. Israeli fears that suicide bombers will slip into Israel among the workers. It has drastically reduced the number of commuters from Gaza.
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