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The Gaza Strip is a tiny area of land 45 km (30 miles) long and 5-12 km (3-9 miles) in
length, surrounded by Israeli settlements and electronic fences and gates.
As of this
writing - two months before Sharon's plan of "disengagement" is scheduled to be
completed - its 1.3 million Palestinian inhabitants live on 60% of the land, while 7000
Israeli settlers and the Israeli army control the other 40%, including much of the
coastline. Gazans, once farmers, are today impoverished, their lands cleared of fruit and
olive trees and other crops as "security measures."
Some 75% of Gazans live on less than
$2 a day, 80% are refugees living mainly in squalid camps. Gaza has the densest
population concentration in the world - 9000 persons per square mile, almost four times
the density of Bangladesh. Malnutrition among children is rampant; most of its water is
taken by the settlers or is highly polluted; and more than 1200 homes have been
demolished and thousands of more damaged in the course of the second Intifada. Gaza is
divided into white, yellow, blue and green areas that divide Israelis and Palestinians.
Gaza has also been carved into three separate cantons between which Palestinians cannot
move. Israelis travel freely on special Israeli-only highways. Even if disengagement takes
place, Gazans will still live in a cage, blockaded by sea, fenced in by land, unable to
travel by air, prevented from seeking employment in Israel.
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Webmaster:
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Datum: 23.07.06
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