Sickening plunder of Gaza's green gems

NY DAILY NEWS ^ | September 22, 2005 | CORKY SIEMASZKO

[SeenTheLights Mom]

Sickening plunder of Gaza's green gems

By CORKY SIEMASZKO DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Originally published on September 22, 2005

GAZA - A week after they descended like locusts on the greenhouses that Jewish settlers nurtured in Gaza, looters continue to pillage what should be a prize asset for a fledgling Palestinian state. And the Palestinian Authority, which took over Gaza after the Israelis evacuated the territory, appears powerless to stop them.

When a Daily News correspondent visited abandoned Jewish settlements in Gaza, he found brazen vandals dismantling farms that once produced some of the world's finest tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers.

The now-gutted greenhouses were gifts to the Palestinian people from U.S. philanthropists, who raised $14 million to buy them from departing settlers

"It was our work for a long time and it was supposed to help even more people now," said heartbroken Zaki Karim, 51, a Palestinian who worked at greenhouses in what was the Gadid settlement. "But it's a mess."

Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman Tawfiq Abu Qusa insisted the damage was limited to 30% of the 4,000 or so greenhouses - and blamed most of the vandalism on spiteful Jewish settlers. "The Palestinians damaged so little you can't even count it," he said.

One of the philanthropists, Daily News Chairman and Publisher Mortimer B. Zuckerman, called that assertion "ridiculous."

"We thought it was a chance to show the Palestinians that there were more benefits from cooperation than confrontation," Zuckerman said. "I'm just sad that they are cutting off their noses to spite their faces. ... It's almost inexplicable."

The World Bank reported 90% of the greenhouses were intact when the Israelis left. Facts on the ground reveal that much of that bounty is now gone.

more... http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/3 48624p-297490c.html

[ncountylee]

Gaza is an open sewer. A good home for the UN.

[StuLongIsland]

Naive Libs always stepping in it. They thing they sing, Kimbaya and run to the Palestinians with smiles, saying we come in peace they going to like them, NOT. Time and time again, libs get slapped around and go back for more slappings.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Zuckerman said. "I'm just sad that they are cutting off their noses to spite their faces. ... It's almost inexplicable.""

Why is he surprised?? Muslims are barbarians of the first order. They produce nothing but misery and poverty--even when wallowing in oil money from the West.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Let them eat semtex.

[Ben Mugged]

And when they are starving they can chew on the stocks of their assault weapons. We have seen the same thing happen in Africa. Throw out the elitist farmers and give the land to the poor who haven't an inkling of how to work the land. That ensures famine and reliance on the UN for welfare. The world seems destined to repeat this error over and over.

[68skylark]

Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman Tawfiq Abu Qusa insisted the damage was limited to 30% of the 4,000 or so greenhouses - and blamed most of the vandalism on spiteful Jewish settlers.

Compared to these a-holes, even someone like Bill Clinton looks honest.

[Cate]

How sad... let your family and friends starve to death because you're too selfish and mean spirited to see the benefit of this bountiful area. Some people truly are destined to hell.

[wingman1]

Is there a story link?

[Abathar]

I wouldn't have left those greenhouses, I would have even taken the topsoil when I left. Far as I am concerned they should have left them a big parking lot and let them get the money and resources from other Arab countries to rebuild the infrastructure, if they even wanted to, squaller looks so much better on TV for pity donations and EU backing.

[DAC22]

The US and Israel reached out to the terrorist by vacating Gaza. When,not if, the attacks start on Israel from GAZA, I want Israel to turn the area into a sheet of glass. And when that happens I want Pres. Bush to sit on hands and let it happen. I'm sick of it, the live branch doesn't work with these animals.

[ItsForTheChildren]

As a Muslim former colleague once told me, "The Palestinians are the trailer trash of the Arab world."

And once again they prove it.

[Abathar]

I agree 100%

[wingman1]

"I wouldn't have left those greenhouses..."

They wouldn't have left them had they not received $14 Million from other Jews (I'm assuming Mortimer Zuckerman is Jewish)to buy the greenhouses as an olive branch to offer the Palestinians.

[LibWhacker]

Well, of course they had to destroy the greenhouses!!! How else are they ever gonna claim that the relief supplies we'll send contained pork products? It's important to keep worldwide muslim outrage going strong.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Disgusting little bastards. You know, I don't think there's any redeeming qualities in these people. They get the means of survival and employment, and then go and trash it all out of spite. That's okay, the UN will blackmail everyone else into supporting them.

[rbg81]

Another $14M down the craphole--along with the Lord knows how much we've flushed down already. How much more before we learn that it will come to nothing, or worse. Of course, the money is probably only symbolic anyway, to prove that we love them Muslims.

[Oatka]

In the nearby Neveh Dekalim settlement, there were no soldiers to stop 29-year-old Samir Al-Najar and his eight-man crew from demolishing a half-acre greenhouse. Al-Najar insisted the land was his family's before Israel occupied it in 1967 and that he was reclaiming it.
"I want to reorganize the land so we're clearing it out for now," Al-Najar said as two workers carried off a stack of tall metal support beams. Asked whether he intended to sell the materials, Al-Najar shook his head. "We'll probably rebuild with them, but I want the greenhouses to be our own, not Jewish ones," he said.

This sums up their Loser Mentality. Any bets on the greenhouse being rebuilt elsewhere?