Gaza dreams of life after the Israelis

[Violet_Crumble]

Fate of abandoned settler homes undecided as Palestinians plan tourist paradise

Chris McGreal in Khan Yunis
Tuesday May 3, 2005

Hatem Abu Eltayef has a vision for the future of his crowded and battered town once the Israelis have retreated from the sprawling settlement on the other side of the barbed wire and machine gun posts.
The town planner of Khan Yunis, at the southern end of the Gaza Strip, foresees new homes for the dispossessed, shopping strips, and tourists rubbing shoulders with locals on some of the finest beaches in the Mediterranean. His scheme is laid out in detailed plans he spreads on the table before him.

"People here say they want to go to the beach. They dream about it," Mr Eltayef says. "But they also need housing and healthcare and more schools. Once the Jews are gone we have a plan to build homes and shops and develop the beach for tourists. It will be a paradise."

First, however, there is the problem of what the settlers leave behind.

The Gush Katif Jewish settlements consume about 1,600 hectares (4,000 acres) of the Gaza Strip between Khan Yunis and the sea, penning Palestinians behind the army watchtowers. But the estimated 8,000 settlers in Gaza must leave this summer or be removed by force as part of Ariel Sharon's unilateral "disengagement plan".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,10551,1475267,00.html