Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Settlers turn hotel into Gaza fortress

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Settlers turn hotel into Gaza fortress

    Settlers turn hotel into Gaza fortress

    Israeli extremists dig in for last stand against expulsion by Sharon

    Conal Urquhart in Gush Katif
    Sunday June 5, 2005
    The Observer

    RIght-wing Israeli extremists are turning a Gaza hotel into a fortress
    to resist the Israeli army's attempts to expel them forcibly in August
    when Gaza is cleared of its Jewish settlers. Among them are supporters
    of Baruch Goldstein, a settler who shot dead 28 Palestinians as they
    prayed in 1994.The activists, who have come from Hebron and Gush Etzion
    in the West Bank and Jerusalem, have taken over the deserted Palm Beach
    hotel and are stockpiling food. They say 15 families have moved in as
    they carry out renovations and they expect a hundred more to arrive
    by 15 August, when Israeli forces are set to begin their withdrawal.

    Their takeover comes as increasing numbers of settlers in Gaza are
    turning their backs on the extremism of their West Bank counterparts
    and preparing to leave peacefully. That pragmatism, however,
    is rejected by the activists who took over the hotel last week,
    declaring it their private property and installing guards with Uzis.

    Nadia Matar, the head of Women in Green, a right-wing settler group,
    believes the hotel will become a centre of resistance. 'Tens of
    thousands of people will break down fences to get here to stop [Prime
    Minister Ariel] Sharon's plan. That's why we are stockpiling tents
    and food so we can support them when they come.

    'We do not need to use violence to stop disengagement. Our numbers
    will be enough. There will be 30 families living at the hotel, and
    there are a further 150 who will come to stay . This is not easy. It's
    a sacrifice.'

    Matar was joined by other figures from Israel's extreme right,
    including Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben Giver, believed to have links
    to Jewish underground groups that have claimed the lives of nine
    Palestinians since 2000.

    Many see the fight to thwart Sharon in apocalyptic terms. Shalom
    Woollens, 44, who arrived in Israel five years ago from New York,
    said the Gaza settlements are the Jewish line in the sand. 'This is
    the fulcrum of the battle on terror. I am putting my life on the line
    for this.'

    Matar added: 'This is not just a fight for these settlements. It's
    a fight for Western civilisation. If we lose here, Arab terrorists
    will see that their violence is rewarded.'

    The hotel was built in Gush Katif in the Eighties on a beautiful beach
    closed to the Palestinians. Since the beginning of the intifada in
    2000, it has had no customers and was closed down.

    Not all the protesters present the battle in such stark terms as
    Matar, however. Danny Cohen, 33, a teacher from Jerusalem, mixed his
    activism with pleasure as he playfully buried three of his four sons
    in sand on the beach. 'It makes a nice change and I hope it will make
    a difference. My wife is on extended maternity leave and I commute
    to teach in Jerusalem. We will stay until we are sure the threat
    to the settlements is over. I have informed the army that I will
    only serve my reserve duty here. If they want to send me to prison,
    I will go to prison with the same pride with which I used to perform
    my military service,' he said.

    But the extremists appear to be in a minority as large numbers of
    Gaza settlers resign themselves to their fate. In Rafiach Yam, one
    of Gush Katif's settlements, many houses are already deserted.

    Near Nitzanim, the bulldozers are flattening land for new housing
    for those who are fleeing from Gaza. It is an irony. Once this area
    was home to Palestinian families who fled to Gaza.

    Among those who have decided to resettle near Nitzanim is Martin
    Granot, 54, who is rinsing his aqualungs in the shade of his palm
    trees. In an ice-box lie several large grouper fish he harpooned
    that morning. 'This is paradise. If there was a way to stay with the
    Palestinians, I would,' he said.

    As well as leaving their home, he and his wife will close their textile
    factory which employs about 60 Palestinians. They cannot continue to
    manufacture clothes without the benefit of hiring Palestinians at pay
    rates of between £1 and £2 per hour and the tax advantages available
    to settlers.

    He believes it is not only his family who will suffer. 'The
    Palestinians are crying more than I am,' he says. 'Because they will
    have no work once we are gone.'

    Abbas puts off Palestinian elections

    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced yesterday that
    parliamentary elections due next month would be delayed, a widely
    expected move that the militant Hamas group said stemmed from fears
    it would do well at the ballot box.

    In a public decree, Abbas said he had decided to postpone the 17
    July poll to allow time to resolve a dispute over proposed reforms
    to voting laws. He gave no new date for the election, but said one
    would be given in a future presidential announcement.

    The delay could stoke tensions between Abbas's Fatah faction and
    Hamas, which had been poised to make a strong showing in its first
    campaign. Hamas had reacted to earlier hints of a delay by accusing
    Fatah of manoeuvring to cling to power.

    Hamas, the Islamist vanguard of a Palestinian militant revolt,
    agreed to a 'period of calm' until the end of this year after Abbas
    and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared a ceasefire last
    February. But the deal between Abbas and militant factions hinged in
    part on his promise of more power-sharing through elections.

    --Boundary_(ID_5ISxcooaGkRAHhKTXRrEoA)--

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Working...
X