Evacuation of Jewish settlers from Gaza

cannedmoose

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4150028.stm

About time, historic in that it's the first time Israel has forcibly removed settlements from occupied Palestinian land, albeit new settlements are also continuing to be established elsewhere on the West Bank.

We should also remember that the Palestinians will not be fully in charge of their own affairs. Israel will maintain control of Gaza's borders, airspace and seaspace. Gaza airport remains unusable due to Israel bombing and ripping up the runway a few years ago. Still, hopefully this is a beginning. IMO, the best avenue for the people of Gaza to pursue is the peaceful one, but since Hamas is massively popular, I'm not sure this will be the one they take. If Gaza was finally at peace the best option for its development would be concentration on building a tourist market. Having been to Gaza, it has long stretches of lovely sandy beaches, bathed by the warm Mediterranean. There was only one hotel up to Western standards when I visited. With a rebuilt airport and new hotel facilities, Gaza would be a perfect Mediterranean seaside destination.

Here's hoping.

brother · Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 6:20 pm Post subject:

More competition for the cypriot tourism sector but hey the palestinians have suffered more than anyone else i know off.

cannedmoose · Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 6:29 pm Post subject:

Having seen the coastline of Gaza, the potential is enormous. Gaza also has a lot of hidden sites reflecting it's past. I visited one of the oldest churches in the world when I was there and also one of the oldest mosques. If the Palestinian Authority can develop tourism it could be their salvation. It might also make the Israeli's think twice about attacking them if they know they would be placing thousands of tourists in danger.

Here's the link to the Church I visited:

http://www.visit-palestine.com/gaza/places/orthod.htm

Here's the mosque:

http://www.visit-palestine.com/gaza/places/hashem.htm

And this was an amazing place to visit, lots of hand-made arts and crafts, with woven rugs at ridiculously cheap prices:

http://www.visit-palestine.com/gaza/places/artvill.htm

I also highly recommend a visit to the PLO Flag Shop in Gaza City. The only place in the world where one can purchase a blow-up Yasser Arafat. I bought one and when the Israeli's were searching my luggage as I left the country, it made the lovely female Israeli girls searching through my boxer shorts (those in the case, not me wearing them) laugh out loud. It was that blow-up balloon that made them realise I was no threat to the state of Israel Very Happy

cannedmoose · Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 9:13 am Post subject:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4161584.stm

I think Ariel Sharon could have dug his own grave with this statement...

city · Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 9:06 pm Post subject:

That was the first thing coming to my mind when I heard him saying that on TV. Sad

Hopefully not.

murtaza · Villager Joined: 15 Aug 2005 Posts: 21

cannedmoose · Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:30 pm Post subject:

Despite having a generally loathsome history of killing innocent Palestinians, I hope that Sharon doesn't follow in Rabin's fate. He's taken a brave step in confronting the hard-line Jewish extremists whose favour he used to covet. Let's hope he continues in this vein. If he does, he has my support... conditional support obviously.

Just a shame that Rabin was murdered, I think we'd be in a far better position today had he lived.

magikthrill · Mukhtar/is Joined: 14 Aug 2005 Posts: 630 Location: NYC

as much sympathy as one can have for Hitler I suppose.

i wa salos thinking the same thing about the palestinians developing tourism. that would be a great start.

cannedmoose · Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:33 pm Post subject:

city · Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 2:10 pm Post subject: