topic by
John Calvin
8/10/2002 (9:12) |
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http://www.fmep.org/reports/2002/v12n4.html#3
Gazans often call the Gaza Strip their 'giant prison.' The name reflects the crowded, tense quarters where 1.1 million people live on some 360 square kilometers. The Israeli army surrounds the Strip, preventing Palestinians from leaving the area without special permits that are granted only in emergency situations.
Even within Gaza's borders, its people are confined. Israel has divided the strip into three zones of Palestinian towns and refugees that are surrounded by Israeli military hardware. Travel between the areas is allowed only at certain times, and at the whims of the Israeli troops manning the checkpoints very much like prison guards.
The Strip is easily divided into three areas because of the Jewish settlements embedded in its heart in the most strategic areas. There are currently 7,000 settlers living in 19 settlements across the Gaza Strip.
If the Gaza Strip is a prison, its solitary confinement area is the agricultural part of al-Mawasi, just west of Khan Yunis. al-Mawasi is effectively controlled by settlers and surrounded by the settlement of Gush Katif from the east and the sea from the south. The people of al-Mawasi can neither leave their area nor distribute their agricultural produce except by special permission from the Israeli authorities.
'When harvesting season approaches, we start to panic,' says Abu Ibrahim, a farmer from al-Mawasi. 'We pay a lot of money for our produce and in the end we are not allowed to bring it out into the local market. We are forced to feed it to the animals,' he laments. 'Never mind the destruction periodically wrought on our crops by the settlers.'
Abu Ibrahim says all this is unbearable and humiliating. 'The settler who stole my land enjoys his freedom. But I, the owner of the land, cannot even leave my house without a permit. It is the age of wonders!'
Safwat Al Kahlout, 'Trapped in Misery,' Palestine Report, May 29, 2002
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