GAZA/ISRAEL: JEWISH FARMER BURNS PROPERTY IN GAZA AS SETTLERS CONTINUE TO RESIST DISENGAGEMENT.

Record ID: 400869

  • Title: GAZA/ISRAEL: JEWISH FARMER BURNS PROPERTY IN GAZA AS SETTLERS CONTINUE TO RESIST DISENGAGEMENT.
  • Date: 15th August 2005
  • Summary: (BN11) RAFIAH YAM SETTLEMENT, GAZA STRIP (AUGUST 14, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: HOUSE ON FIRE 0.03 2. LV: WAREHOUSE THAT WAS USED FOR STORING AND PACKING OF VEGETABLES ON FIRE 0.06 3. GV: VEHICLE BURNING 0.11 4. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) YAAKOV MAZAL TARI, FARMER, SAYING: "I don't want to leave anything for the Palestinians to enj
  • Embargoed: 30th August 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: RAFIAH YAM SETTLEMENT AND SHIRAT HAYAM IN GUSH KATIF SETTLEMENT BLOC, GAZA STRIP / KISSUFIM CROSSING, ISRAEL
  • City:
  • Country: Gaza Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVA2K5ZKIJ8JRVJFIRI6G22T8EU1
  • Story Text: Jewish farmer in Gaza torches property as settlers
    resist disengagement.



    Emotions boiled over for one Jewish settler in Gaza Sunday
    (August 14) as he decided to torch his property -
    including a warehouse, his house and his car - rather than
    allow it to fall in to the hands of the Palestinians who
    will be taking over control of the land after Israel
    withdraws.

    Yaakov Mazal Tari, a farmer in the southern Gaza
    settlement of Rafiah Yam, angrily prepared his possessions
    for the roaring fire as he prepared to quit his home and
    farm.

    "I don't want to leave anything for the Palestinians to
    enjoy. I'm going to burn everything and what I can't burn I
    will destroy," Mazal Tari said as he pitched more personal
    items on the fire, promising to torch his greenhouses.

    Opponents of the Israeli pullout from Gaza say it
    rewards Palestinians for a four-and-a-half-year revolt that
    killed thousands.

    Palestinians welcome the pullout but worry it is a ruse
    for Israel to strengthen its grip on much larger settlement
    blocks in the West Bank.

    Under a deal announced on Friday (August 12), private
    foreign donors will buy greenhouses in Gaza off the
    settlers for about 13 million U.S. dollars and give them to
    Palestinians to help the moribund local economy.

    Many settlers have agreed to leave their greenhouses
    and farm buildings intact - hoping to receive a few
    thousand dollars in compensation from the sale in addition
    to money already offered by the government.

    But for others, like Mazal Tari, the feelings of loss
    and betrayal brought on by the 'disengagement' have
    prompted different reactions - including the destruction of
    personal property.

    Settlers in the small settlement of Shirat Hayam, in
    the Gush Katif settlement bloc in the Gaza Strip, resisted
    in another way.

    Residents stocked up on fresh water and food in a bid
    to make their holdout last longer. The settlement has grown
    in recent weeks with hundreds of sympathisers flocking to
    the area to set up tents in solidarity with the settlers.

    The inhabitants vow not to leave without a fight.

    Israeli soldiers will give orders to evacuate on Monday
    (August 15) and those who have not left by Wednesday
    (August 17) will be forcibly removed.

    Another four settlements in the West Bank will be
    evacuated shortly afterwards.

    Thousands of Israeli police blocked approaches to Gaza
    to keep back radical Jewish protesters in the final
    countdown to Israel's pullout.

    Tensions were rising over threats of disruption after
    an influx of around 4,000 ultranationalists into Jewish
    settlements in Gaza in recent weeks to reinforce those
    among the 8,500 inhabitants vowing to resist evacuation.


    jg/






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