Palestinians in Gaza Loot Greenhouse Equipment

[barb162]

September 14, 2005 text size

Palestinians in Gaza Loot Greenhouse Equipment
From Associated Press


NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip — Palestinian looters took irrigation hoses, pumps and plastic sheeting from dozens of greenhouses Tuesday, a month after Jewish American donors bought more than 3,000 of the structures from Israeli settlers and transferred them to the Palestinian Authority.

Police commanders complained that they did not have enough manpower to protect the prized equipment in several abandoned settlements. In some instances, police joined the looters, witnesses said.

"We need at least another 70 soldiers. This is just a joke," said Taysir Haddad, one of 22 security guards assigned to Neve Dekalim, which was the largest Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip. "We've tried to stop as many people as we can, but they're like locusts."

snip

The greenhouses are a centerpiece of Palestinian plans for rebuilding Gaza after 38 years of Israeli occupation. The Palestinian Authority hopes the high-tech greenhouses will provide jobs and income from exports.


snip
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-gaza14sep14,1,5753684.story?coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=1&cset=true



(14 million bucks donated and this would have supplied plenty of jobs!)

[pelsar]

1. more than just jobs...

the products had ready made markets in Europe and in israel....they were in fact a "gold mine" for gaza

[barb162]

2. I know; this is just another demonstration

of the senseless lawlessness. And the Palestinian government wanted these greenhouses, they knew the value!!! It makes it all the more senseless.

I don't know about you, but all the signs of having an economically (and otherwise) successful Palestinian state are not looking good to me right now. As the world watches this, who will want to invest?

[pelsar]

3. i will be surprised...

though i hope that work it out....not that i care so much about them, but it does affect me....i certainly have my doubts. A society that have lived on handouts, on fantasys and violence. A society that has learned to manipulate the world, with an elite that cares little for the "little guy....the celebrates death.....they've got such a long ways to go to establishing a working society.

More than that, they are between two cultures: western democracy as they have learned from the time in israeli prisons (yes i know the irony) vs the more traditional arab dictatorships and strong man tactics. Which will they chose?

[Violet_Crumble]

11. 'A society that has learned to manipulate the world'?

Can you expand on this without resorting to 'the culture of death' or other juicy negative stereotying of the Palestinian people, pelsar?

And a question for you - you say that you don't care much about the Palestinian people. Fine. But why should you then expect anyone to care much about Israelis?

Violet...

[Scurrilous]

4. More looting news:

Gaza evacuees: Lax IDF security allows looting

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/619946.html


IDF Soldiers Caught Looting Homes in Gush Katif

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=87907


Israeli Sources Confess Looting of Settler Houses Carried out by Israelis

http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/details.asp?name=10230

[pelsar]

5. hardly compares....

guess your comparing the looting of greenhouses that fully functional to some soldiers looting houses that about to be destroyed.

not a very good comparison

[barb162]

6. you beat me to it

[Coastie for Truth]

7. Sad to say

this makes any any infrastructure or entrepreneurial investment in Gaza or the WB more an act of faith and less a rational economic investment (MBA type mentality) decision.

Also encourages the entrepreneurial Palestinians with access to risk capital to stay in the US, Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain.

Maybe that's what Hamas wants - poverty and chaos.

[pelsar]

8. of course they do..

hamas requires poverty and chaos to be the alternative to the PA...without which they have no powerbase...they also require an outside enemy.

classic situation of a warlord, much like the hizballa in lebanon..of course they have the addition of europs "useful idiotes".....

[leftynyc]

9. And that, in a nutshell, is the whole sad truth (eom)

[Coastie for Truth]

10. Which I guess means the Presbyterian Church was right

to recommend divesting in Citibank for investing in Gaza entrepreneurs. (but was their real reason risk associated with such investments).