Washington Report, November 2005, pages 10-13

Two Views

The Gaza Disengagement

Celebrations and Misgivings: Gazans Watch Israeli Settlers Withdraw

By Mohammed Omer

	Standing in front of an Israeli sniper tower and abandoned Jewish settlement, a young Gazan celebrates the Israeli withdrawal (Photo M. Omer).

“I’M HAPPY that I won’t see settlers after today,” exclaimed Nehad Basher. The 14-year-old stood on the roof of his family’s four-story house in Deir al-Balah City, from which vantage point he could see a long line of trucks and moving vans entering and leaving the soon-to-be-emptied Israeli settlement of Kfar Darom.

On Monday, Aug. 15, 2005, the Israeli army formally served eviction notices on the roughly 8,500 Israeli settlers living in the Gaza Strip. Following a 48-hour grace period for voluntary departures, Israeli authorities planned to evacuate the remaining settlers by force if necessary.

While many of the settlers, especially secular Jews, already had left or were simply awaiting the arrival of moving vans, roughly half, many of them ultra-Orthodox Jews convinced it was their religious duty to stay, were adamantly opposed to the Gaza withdrawal (supported by a majority of Israeli citizens), and vowed to leave only if carried out bodily.

Complicating the situation were an estimated 5,000 anti-disengagement supporters who had been quietly slipping into the Gaza settlements over the past few weeks to swell the ranks of the anti-disengagement protesters. Although Gaza’s borders were officially sealed over the preceding weekend to keep anti-disengagement forces out, many of the 50,000 hand-picked, specially trained Israeli police and army personnel stood guard to enforce the closure. In some settlements the authorities serving eviction notices were met by human chains of protesters, and scuffles and some arrests ensued.

Now, as Nehad Basher and his father watched from their rooftop, the anti-disengagement “command center” in the center of Kfar Darom seemed to be a tent, topped by an orange flag. Many of the red-tile-roofed houses also flew the orange flag, the color adopted by the anti-withdrawal faction.

I spoke on the phone to Ruti Liberman, spokeswoman of a large anti-disengagement group, Moetset Yesha. She remembered our conversation of the previous week—indeed, she recognized my voice—and was glad to give an update from Neve Dakalim, the largest Israeli settlement, hours before evacuation orders would be enforced. Many of the residents, she said, simply would not leave. “One of my neighbors is watering the lawn outside her house,” Yesha said. “She isn’t going anywhere voluntarily.”

“It’s finally over—all the torture we endured at the hands of those settlers.”

Still, given the relative size of the opposing forces, it was clear that, in a matter of weeks, at most, Kfar Darom would be empty. Yahya Basher, Nehad’s father, couldn’t hide his happiness. “It’s finally over—all the torture we endured at the hands of those settlers,” he explained. “The day they all leave has to be a festival for me!” Over the years, his house had been shot at, tear gas canisters had landed inside, and his wife and children had been beaten while in their own orange and olive groves. Yahya’s face grew grave as he explained how, three years ago, his family’s 27 dunums of planted land were confiscated outright by the Israeli army to “improve the security” of the Kfar Darom settlement. Unlike the settlers, who will receive substantial financial compensation, Palestinians whose land was expropriated or houses destroyed received nothing. Now, with the Israeli withdrawal complete, the Basher family hopes at least to reclaim and replant their land.

In the same Deir al-Balah neighborhood, not far from the Basher home, an older woman wearing a married woman’s white mendeel (headscarf) looked through a broken window in a wall so riddled with bulletholes that portions actually resembled a sieve. It’s hard to find a good translation for the joyful, piercing shrill Palestinian women sometimes utter, a kind of victory cry nonetheless edged with angry lament. Umm-Mohammed was born in Askelan, in what is now Israel. Her words, perhaps, sound vengeful: “I cannot stop shrilling when I see those settlers being removed by the Israeli army, suffering as they have made us suffer.”

The words are harsh—but the bulletholes, literally too many to count, in the wall of her house that faces Kfar Darom tell their own story. Like the homes of so many Gazans who live close to Israeli settlements, the walls are virtual moonscapes of bullet fire. Sometimes Palestinian militants shot first, but many times the residents could figure out no reason at all for the hail of bullets directed at them by their Israeli neighbors and occupiers. Sometimes the bullets came from the armed settlers, sometimes from the Israeli soldiers in sniper towers. Now, for the first time in years, Umm-Mohammed can look out the window of her own home in relative safety.

Despite Israeli army concerns that the withdrawal would be marked by Palestinian attacks, Hamas and the other militant factions kept their word to take no hostile action against the departing settlers. Throughout Gaza, however, the children in many neighborhoods near the settlements were well-nigh unstoppable, dashing over the broiling sand, often barefoot, to plant the Palestinian flag as close as possible to settlement walls. Palestinian Authority soldiers formed rough perimeters to keep the children at a safe distance, but none of the exuberant children were hurt.

While the mainstream Western media hailed Sharon’s unilateral disengagement as a first step toward restarting the stalled peace process, many Gaza residents were less than completely optimistic. As Baker Abdulraheem from Khan Younis in southern Gaza explained, “What exactly will we get out of this disengagement when the Israelis will control the borders, the airspace, the seacoast, when they will be right outside the borders ready to re-invade whenever they please?”

Certainly, despite heavy pressure from the international community, many vital questions of border control remain unanswered. “Of course,” Abdulraheem continued, “it isn’t a bad thing—if the checkpoints are gone and we can move around Gaza freely; if the farmers get their land back; if the people living near the settlements no longer have to live in fear—of course that’s not bad. But does it make us a sovereign nation? a free country—with the Israelis controlling all the borders?”

In light of the many truce violations since February, and the ongoing violence in the West Bank, some militants also are less than optimistic.

The Sharon government has been unending in its demands that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “crack down on terrorists.” Abbas, however, has preferred, in the main, to negotiate and include the militant factions in the political process. In a recent speech at a celebration at the Gaza City harbor, he declared that there should be no separate militant factions, saying, “All Palestinians should be under one Palestinian flag.…One Authority, one legal force in the Palestinian territories.”

Hamas political spokesman Mahmoud Al Zahar, however, said that as long as the Israeli occupation continues, whether in Gaza or the West Bank, armed resistance must remain an option. “Asking us to disband the Al Qassam Brigade [the militant wing of Hamas] is a crime,” he told reporters at an Aug. 12 celebration in Gaza City. “That force should remain armed and ready to protect Palestinians.”

Only time will tell whether the disengagement really is a step toward a lasting, just peace, or yet another brutally frustrating dead end for ordinary citizens on both sides of the Green Line.

Approximate Freedom: The Joys and Ironies of the Israeli Army’s Departure From Gaza

Palestinians walk down the street of the Egyptian border city of Rafah as they head to the Gaza Strip to visit their loved ones Sept. 13, two days after the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces (AFP photo/Khaled Desouki).

The sun seemed brighter when it rose on the morning of Monday, Sept. 12, minutes after the last Israeli soldiers left Gaza. All the towns, villages, and refugee camps were bright with Palestinian flags, along with flags of all the militant factions. Instead of going to school, hundreds of children—and many of their elders—couldn’t resist going instead to the abandoned and largely demolished Israeli settlements, where they explored the wide boulevards and hung their flags everywhere. In Khan Younis, children played freely on the nearby beach, closed to them for many years. The youngest children had never once set foot on the sand or in the Mediterranean. The destroyed settlements nearby couldn’t possibly diminish their delight on discovering that their elders’ talk of the magnificent sea, the joy of swimming and playing in waves, was not some lovely fairytale but the literal truth. Later on, however, five of the children who were celebrating at Khan Younis beach drowned and died.

As a parting gift, the ever-thoughtful Israeli government left a public relations disaster for the Palestinian Authority when on Sunday, hours before the army’s exit, it reversed its long-standing plans and decided not to raze the settlements’ abandoned synagogues. For months it had been agreed that the Israeli army would demolish the settlers’ homes once the Jewish residents left, since the free-standing one-family houses surrounded by spacious yards would be of little use in housing Gaza’s brutally overcrowded population. During the evacuation, the rabbis and their congregations removed the Torahs and other sacred objects with all necessary care and respect.

Then, at the last minute, Sharon’s government voted to leave the synagogue buildings intact—opening the way for news photos of Palestinian crowds destroying them—or, perhaps even worse, of the Palestinian Authority demolishing the former houses of worship. Even the U.S. State Department protested that this left the Palestinian Authority open to criticism no matter what it did. In fact, in Kfar Darom, Netzarim, and other settlements, PA bulldozers moved in after hundreds demolished the synagogues.

Salamah Mansour, 34, found the anger of the mainly young crowds understandable, even inevitable. “They are only expressing the rage they could never express during the terrible occupation,” he said. “Besides,” he added, pointing to the abandoned Neve Dekalim synagogue, “is this really a holy place? Look what’s written on the walls in Hebrew and Arabic—’Death to Arabs!’”

There were spontaneous celebrations as the Israeli tanks rolled out of Gaza—flags flying in and out of the settlements, shots fired in the air, even fireworks. An official “handover” ceremony slated for Sept. 11, in which the departing Israeli commanders would formally hand control to the PA, was cancelled when the Palestinian Authority announced it would not take part. With so many questions of border control still unresolved, the Palestinian government felt any ceremony would be a sham.

Of course, that didn’t prevent the politicians from making speeches. Calling it a “day of joy,” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said, “We are seeing soldiers, tanks and Israeli military vehicles leaving our land and the Israeli flag lowered and replaced for always by the Palestinian flag. Much work still needs to be done, but nothing can take away from this victory.”

Last to go through the Kissufim crossing was Israel’s Gaza divisional commander, Gen. Avi Kochavi, who also could not resist making a short speech. Describing the Israeli army withdrawal after decades of bloody conflict the “end of an era,” he added, “From now on, the responsibility for what happens in the Gaza Strip lies in the hands of the Palestinian Authority.”

Of course, under international law, Gaza is still technically under occupation, as Palestine does not control its borders, airspace or seacoast. The Rafah border crossing to Egypt has been closed, and Israel plans to open a new crossing where it can continue to monitor the passage of goods. In principle, Israel has accepted that the Rafah passenger crossing will be administered jointly by the Egyptians and the Palestinians, although as of this writing, the crossing remains closed. A first contingent of border guards from Egypt has arrived, with the full 750-man deployment promised by the end of the week.

There are unquestionably benefits to the people of Gaza in the Israeli withdrawal—an end to the hated checkpoints, so people can move freely through the Gaza Strip, and a restoration of land to those families and farmers whose homes, fields and groves were appropriated by the land-hungry settlers.

“I’m so happy that I can’t find the words to describe how I feel,” said Captain Mohammed of the Palestinian security services. “I just hope the West Bank and Jerusalem will follow.”

President Abbas has said the same. In fact, however, the unilateral move to evacuate the settlements—in which the world saw endless footage of distraught Jewish settlers dragged from their homes—is seen by many Palestinians as a ploy to freeze further negotiations. President Abbas has constantly stated that the peace process must be re-started, but the fact that a recent poll showed that 84 percent of Palestinians believe the Gaza withdrawal was the result of the armed resistance of the intifada, coupled with Sharon’s intransigence on the West Bank and East Jerusalem—where the conflict continues and the despised separation wall daily grows larger—points to an uncertain future. Gaza is still exactly as Sharon wants it: all perimeters under his control, surrounded by the Israeli army who can reinvade within hours, and Palestinian sovereignty at best a “maybe…someday.” Abbas is to follow Sharon’s agenda and “crack down on terrorism,” while the people of Gaza are to be docile prisoners.

Still, these very real concerns could not dim the pure joy throughout Gaza Monday. On the Gaza beach, the mother of two children killed by the Israeli Occupation Force in Khan Younis said, “Thank God we got our land back, thank God we have some of our rights now, even if they’re far from complete.”

At the Morag settlement near Gaza City, 65-year-old Mohammed Duhair, so frail he must lean on his grandson when he walks, made the painful effort to kneel so he could actually touch the earth with shaking hands. “Thank God,” he cried, “thank God we got our land back. It is a gift from God that I can see my land again before I die.”

Mohammed Omer reports from Rafah in the encircled Gaza Strip, where he maintains the Web site <http://www.rafahtoday.org>.

So, Gaza Was Occupied

By Daoud Kuttab

For 37 years, Israel has consistently rejected Palestinians’ and the world view that the status of the areas its military took in 1967 was occupied. When Israel was not using the biblical terms of Judea and Samaria (to refer to the West Bank) they used the terms “administered territories” or “disputed territories.” That is until now.

After the evacuation of the illegal Jewish settlers and before the resolution of the international crossings, the Israelis want Palestinians to say the “O” word.

Despite Israel’s refusal to allow the reopening of Yasser Arafat International Airport in Gaza and the Rafah crossing point between Palestinian Gaza and Egypt, the Israelis want Palestinians to publicly proclaim that the occupation of Gaza is over. Well, to be exact, some in the Israeli government (mostly those in the National Security Council) want this statement, while Israeli officials in the Foreign Ministry are simply interested in a Palestinian statement saying that the Palestinian Authority and not Israel will (after the Israeli army leaves most of Gaza) be the party overall responsible for the Strip.

Israeli officials and columnists are surprised that Palestinians are not too enthusiastic about rushing to make a declaration which they have been hoping to make for some time.

The official Palestinian reluctance is understandable as long as the airport and the land crossings (with all that means in security, customs and administrative responsibility) are not fully and permanently in Palestinian hands. Partial control means partial sovereignty and therefore partial end of occupation. Ending occupation is like pregnancy. You can’t be half pregnant.

But if these two sovereign crossings are fully placed in Palestinian hands, Israel would have a stronger case in making the claim that the PA needs to declare an end to occupation.

I personally think that the Palestinian leadership should not make any one-sided declaration about the full or partial end of the occupation until the Israelis are willing to make a much simpler declaration. By asking Palestinians to declare an end to occupation, they need to admit themselves that there was an occupation in Gaza and that there still is an occupation in the West Bank.

While such an Israeli acknowledgement would be nothing more than a recognition of the reality that it has been literally occupying Palestinians since 1967, such an admission would have far-reaching consequences.

The Fourth Geneva Convention, which was devised specifically to deal with cases of prolonged occupation (following the German occupation of most of Europe), deals specifically with the rights of persons (and property) in occupied territories. The Israeli government has consistently refused to recognize the Palestinian (as well as the Syrian) areas as occupied and therefore has not felt obliged to fulfill the mandate that such a recognition would entitle people under occupation.

International humanitarian law (of which the Fourth Geneva Convention is part) specifies, for example, that the occupying power is not allowed to take citizens from occupied territories into its country and is not allowed to bring its own citizens to live in occupied areas. So, now that the Israeli violation of bringing settlers illegally to the occupied areas has been rectified, it is natural to demand that Palestinians imprisoned in jails in Israel (also denied family visits since the intifada) should be released into the areas that Israel is demanding Palestinians say is no longer occupied.

Impeding movement of local citizens within occupied areas is also illegal, according to international law. Not only does this make the Israeli closures between West Bank cities and between these cities and occupied East Jerusalem illegal, it also makes illegal closure between freed Gaza and still occupied West Bank.

Declaring the end of occupation in Gaza should be equated with the recognition of the continuation of the occupation and, thus, all the Israeli violations still taking place in the West Bank, the latest of which was the illegal decision to build yet another 117 illegal houses in the Nablus-area exclusive settlement of Ariel for citizens of the occupying power.

Once Palestinians take full control and sovereignty over all of Gaza, including the borders with Egypt, they should begin rebuilding and using the international airport and simultaneously declare the end of the occupation in Gaza and demand the same for all remaining occupied territories that were forcefully taken in June 1967.

Daoud Kuttab is the founder and director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University in Ramallah, Palestine. This article first appeared in the Jordan Times of Sept. 9-10, 2005. Reprinted with permission.