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Looters strip Gaza greenhouses [Israel has not occupied Gaza since 2005. More than 3,000 greenhouses were donated to Gaza so they could grow food in the desert, but they destroyed them.]
NBC News/Associated Press ^ | September 13, 2005

Posted on 10/25/2023 9:17:08 AM PDT by grundle

Palestinians looted dozens of greenhouses on Tuesday, walking off with irrigation hoses, water pumps and plastic sheeting in a blow to fledgling efforts to reconstruct the Gaza Strip.

American Jewish donors had bought more than 3,000 greenhouses from Israeli settlers in Gaza for $14 million last month and transferred them to the Palestinian Authority. Former World Bank President James Wolfensohn, who brokered the deal, put up $500,000 of his own cash.

Palestinian police stood by helplessly Tuesday as looters carted off materials from greenhouses in several settlements, and commanders complained they did not have enough manpower to protect the prized assets. In some instances, there was no security and in others, police even 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, formerly the largest Jewish settlement in Gaza. “We’ve tried to stop as many people as we can, but they’re like locusts.”

The failure of the security forces to prevent scavenging and looting in the settlements after Israel’s troop pullout Monday raised new concerns about Gaza’s future.

‘We are not going to tolerate chaos’ Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas told his people in a televised speech Tuesday that he would take immediate steps to impose order. “We have one law for everyone and no one is above the law. We are not going to tolerate chaos after today,” he said.

The Palestinian leader is under intense pressure from his people and the international community to stop the growing lawlessness in Gaza, where rival militant groups are jockeying for power. As Abbas spoke, hundreds of masked Hamas gunmen wielding rifles and grenade launchers paraded through the streets of a nearby refugee camp.

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 left by the Israelis will provide jobs and export income for Gaza’s shattered economy.

During a tour of Neve Dekalim, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia implored Palestinians to leave the structures intact. “These greenhouses are for the Palestinian people,” he said. “We don’t want anyone to touch or harm anything that can be useful for our people.”

Jihad al-Wazir, the deputy Palestinian finance minister, said roughly 30 percent of the greenhouses suffered various degrees of damage. He said that after a “very heated meeting” with Qureia and other Palestinian leaders, the security forces appeared to be getting the situation under control.

“We expect the security to protect the assets properly,” he said.

Al-Wazir said the greenhouses did not suffer structural damage, but that looters got away with irrigation pipes, plastic sheeting and most troublesome, water pumps. He said authorities were trying to recover the expensive pumps.

Israel eyes strengthening hold in West Bank In other developments Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz toured two West Bank settlements, Karnei Shomron and Beit Arieh, and said Israel must develop the main blocs there after its Gaza pullout.

“We have to make every effort to direct resources to strengthen the settlement blocs,” Mofaz said, according to his ministry. “We must do everything possible to strengthen the residents’ feeling of security.”

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said one reason for the Gaza pullout was to strengthen Israel’s grip on its main settlement blocs in the West Bank, where 246,000 settlers live. Palestinians demand a complete Israeli pullout from the West Bank after its withdrawal from Gaza.

Also Tuesday, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian teenager in a clash near the West Bank town of Hebron, Palestinian hospital officials said. They said the teen was shot in the chest by troops in the village of Tafuh.

The army said troops in the village were attacked by a crowd of about 500 people hurling stones and concrete blocks, and a soldier was slightly injured. Troops fired rubber bullets at the attackers, one of whom was seen being taken away in a Palestinian ambulance, the military said.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: gaza; greenhouses; palestinians
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To: grundle

Welfare never works.


21 posted on 10/25/2023 9:34:03 AM PDT by ConservativeInPA (Rebuild the Temple.)
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To: hardspunned

So now you know why Gaza is not a nice place to live

Like the rest of the modern barbarians, they destroy everything given to them


22 posted on 10/25/2023 9:36:01 AM PDT by MNJohnnie (Don't blame me, my congressman is MTG!)
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To: grundle
Israel has not occupied Gaza since 2005. More than 3,000 greenhouses were donated to Gaza so they could grow food in the desert, but they destroyed them.

Curiously sounds similar to every large city in the US administered by the dimrats.

23 posted on 10/25/2023 9:36:32 AM PDT by pfflier
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To: grundle

If a sane person not of Jewish or Arab descent was given only two choices of a place to live; either Gaza or Israel, well- you know.


24 posted on 10/25/2023 9:39:50 AM PDT by tflabo (Truth or tyranny )
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To: SamAdams76
...this article is nearly 20 years old...

..."Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas" ...

Kind of a clue there.

25 posted on 10/25/2023 9:45:33 AM PDT by gloryblaze
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To: grundle
"We are not going to tolerate chaos after today,” he said.

SO, get it done before the sun rises TOMORROW!

Some people can't be helped.
26 posted on 10/25/2023 9:50:21 AM PDT by larrytown (A Cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do. Then they graduate...)
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To: gloryblaze

Once a sand n@gger, always a sand n@gger.

They choose to live like animals


27 posted on 10/25/2023 9:54:10 AM PDT by SteelPSUGOP
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To: grundle

I remember this...
Laughed my friggin butt off...
“I would rather starve than eat food that you have provided for us”..
What a bunch of inbred, low IQ a$$holes


28 posted on 10/25/2023 9:54:17 AM PDT by joe fonebone (And the people said NO! The End)
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To: desertsolitaire

“Permanent” is not necessarily a good word to apply to the construction of greenhouses.

When the Israelis withdrew from Gaza in two thousand five, about half of the greenhouses were vandalized by Israelis, leaving behind their work product.

The smellier issue Is that in order to get the greenhouse product to their best, high’priced markets, Gazans had to cross the Israeli border at Karni,and the Israelis severely choked off this border crossing out of perfectly (IMO) legitimate fear that the Palestinians would truck explosives and/or war materiel into or through Israel. Recall that the 2005 Israeli withdrawal took place under plenty of rocket fire from Gaza.

This apparently crushed the economic viability of the greenhouses, in terms of the dollar amounts the g-houses could produce.
Ref; Google “Gaza greenhouses”


29 posted on 10/25/2023 9:58:28 AM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (The Democrat breadlines will be gluten-free. )
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To: SamAdams76
"The point is, the Palestinians squandered their chance to be civilized long ago."

I remember Rush talking about all the money and aid that has been sent to Palestine over the years, and how they never used any of it to better themselves. The leaders were the ones who got rich off of it. Same thing going on in Ukraine today, and any other place our government sends our tax dollars.

30 posted on 10/25/2023 10:00:47 AM PDT by mass55th (“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” ― John Wayne)
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To: grundle

I remember this. It was more than just looting. Basically, they didn’t want any Jew stuff around to make them feel inferior, so they destroyed all of it.

Commie anti-colonialism against a backdrop of “Muslims Gone Wild.”


31 posted on 10/25/2023 10:01:06 AM PDT by hellinahandcart
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To: MNJohnnie
"So now you know why Gaza is not a nice place to live"

And why no other middle-east country wants them.

32 posted on 10/25/2023 10:03:50 AM PDT by mass55th (“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” ― John Wayne)
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To: pfflier

Always remember that Gaza was like a lab experiment. Israel gave them a beneficial jumpstart so that they could create their own little ‘homeland on training wheels’. These low level cult of emotional Mohammedans of rage turned it into a looney bin and even with international aid supplements pouring in. Utter fail and instead of a homeland, from the River to the Sea, all of Israel should be free of them.


33 posted on 10/25/2023 10:09:36 AM PDT by tflabo (Truth or tyranny )
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To: grundle; All

AOV says it’s for bread...


34 posted on 10/25/2023 10:12:14 AM PDT by Milagros (Y)
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To: grundle; All

FYI - the article is from 2005 ...


35 posted on 10/25/2023 10:15:35 AM PDT by BlueLancer (Everyone thinks you were executed. Stay dead - you'll live longer. (A. Breakspear, "Carnival Row"))
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To: grundle

As i said before.......HAMAS IS NO DIFFERENT THAN BLM AND INNER CITY BLACKS.


36 posted on 10/25/2023 10:28:53 AM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: grundle
Palestinian police stood by helplessly Tuesday as looters carted off materials from greenhouses in several settlements,

I doubt they were helpless. My guess is they chose to do nothing.

37 posted on 10/25/2023 10:57:31 AM PDT by libertylover (Our biggest problem, by far, is that almost all of big media is AGENDA-DRIVEN, not-truth driven.)
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To: NativeSon

You win the thread!


38 posted on 10/25/2023 10:59:31 AM PDT by Eagles6 (Welcome to the Matrix . Orwell's "1984" was a warning, not an instruction manual.)
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To: grundle

grundle wrote: “Israel has not occupied Gaza since 2005. More than 3,000 greenhouses were donated to Gaza so they could grow food in the desert, but they destroyed them”

Of course the Palestinians destroyed those greenhouses donated by Jews. They destroy anything associated with Jews. Now, what do you think they would do if they were given a state of their own?


39 posted on 10/25/2023 10:59:36 AM PDT by DugwayDuke (Most pick the expert who says the things they agree with.)
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To: grundle

It’s an old story but I think the principle holds true today, everywhere: People who are taught to hate their benefactors can never appreciate donations from that hated donor. In this case, Palestinians would rather feast on their hate than eat actual fruits and vegetables. It illustrates that you need to eradicate the hate before you can materially help another.


40 posted on 10/25/2023 11:11:06 AM PDT by caseinpoint (Don't get thickly involved in thin things.)
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