For four months, the Gaza Strip has been effectively isolated from the world. Over 1 million Palestinians are caged in an area of not more than 365km2. Forty-percent of this land is off limits to Palestinians due to the 16 Israeli settlements housing 4,500 settlers and numerous military outposts that occupy it.

The situation in Gaza is dreadful, and worsening by degrees. To halt Palestinian movement in the Strip, the Israeli military has cut Gaza into four sections by erecting road blockades and checkpoints throughout the strip. Israeli tanks line the roadsides, ostensively for the protection of the settlements and settlers and the roads they travel upon.

Furthermore, the Israeli army has taken control of Palestinian farmland and orchards that lie alongside roads that are used by settlers, and land that surrounds military bases and settlements. Using "security needs" as a pretext for its control of the land, the Israeli military has also destroyed everything on the land.

The depth of this destruction needs to be seen to be believed. All vegetation including olive and citrus trees, banana plants, mango groves, agricultural sheds, vegetable greenhouses, and palm trees along the roadside from Gaza City to Khan Younis has been decimated. Bulldozer tracks indented in the sand crisscross the land; mounds of sand are dotted around, each covering the remains of uprooted trees and broken branches and the remains of orchards are strewn along the roadside.

The destruction of Palestinian homes and the ramshackle sand bag fortifications along the streets is equally shocking. Uninhabitable shells of apartment blocks are a common sight. Any houses that lie near Israeli settlements and military posts have been under constant bombardment by Israeli tanks and heavy weaponry.

The Israeli destruction of Palestinian agriculture and housing has ruined the livelihoods of the people and has rendered many homeless. This outright destruction and collective punishment continues unabated until this day. [Source, Palestine Monitor Organization]

Mid-East Realities

www.middleeast.org

Source: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2001/2/75.htm