The
Homecoming
By Sa'id
Ghazali in Beit Hanoun, Gaza Strip
Independent
01 July 2003
"I cried in blood," Fawzi al-Kafarneh told me as we walked
through the ruins of his brick factory in Gaza, "all my savings
of 20 years are blown away."
Unshaven and disheveled,
the 58-year-old Palestinian man talked ceaselessly to himself in a low
voice yesterday, sweating profusely under his flowing, tan-coloured
shirt.
The Israeli army wrecking
crews left his factory in smithereens as they left, much like the orange
groves, homes and other factories that used to line the main road into
Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. Finally, after months under curfew - which
kept workers from their jobs, farmers from their fields and children
from schools - the relief is palpable.
After 1,000 days of fighting
and intermittent occupation, Israeli and Palestinian commanders shook
hands as bulldozers dismantled checkpoints allowing Palestinian traffic
to flow freely again in the Gaza Strip. The pullback - first in Gaza,
and in Bethlehem and other West Bank towns later this week, is part
of the American-backed peace plan, which has gained momentum since the
Iraq war.
Today the Israeli Prime Minister,
Ariel Sharon, will meet his Palestinian counterpart, Abu Mazen, to discuss
further confidence-building measures.
But it is a bitter return
to normal life for the Palestinians. Just nine months before the start
of the latest uprising, Mr al-Kafarneh invested $300,000 (£180,000)
to build his factory. He now has late-onset diabetes and high blood
pressure and sees no prospect of rebuilding his life, along with that
of his four sons, who worked with him. "Now my family - 37 people
- will eat bread and drink water. We have no livelihood," he said.
The factory, two houses and
other farms are adjacent to Salah Eddin road where Israeli tanks and
army vehicles have been in occupation since 15 May. The troops frequently
moved in and out to try and stop militants from firing home-made rockets
over the fence at the Israeli town of Sderot, less than 2km away.
As the Israelis packed up
and left, the Palestinian police arrived in a convoy of blue Landcruisers
only to be abruptly stopped at the outskirts. They could not proceed
into the town because the Israeli troops had ripped up the main roads
and destroyed three overpasses, cutting off the town from the rest of
Gaza.
"You were late,"
Mohammed Shabat, 65, told the police taking over the Israeli positions.
"But, God willing, we will bring this town back to the old days."
A bulldozer was called in
to carve a path toward a nearby industrial zone, so that Palestinians
could get to their jobs for the first time in two months.
The damage from seven military
incursions in 33 months had left a wide swath on each side of the highway
which Israel said was done to remove cover for militants firing rockets.
But their action falls foul
of the Geneva Conventions which declares that: "It is prohibited
to destroy ... agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs,
crops, livestock, drinking water ... for the civilian population."
Ali Zaaneen, 35, stood in
the ploughed-up fields where he and his seven brothers grew cucumbers,
tomatoes and okra. His four-acre farm was levelled, and nothing remains
of his glasshouses. "Now I am able to go every day to my farm,"
he said, "but I will find nothing to harvest ... and to take to
the market. What is the guarantee they will not change their minds and
come back again?" he asked of the departing Israelis. "They
are not far away."
Along with the plots the
troops destroyed dozens of buildings, thousands of trees and a 5km stretch
of road connecting the town to Gaza City. Sufian Hammad, a spokesman
for the Beit Hanoun municipality, said many thousands of orange trees
had been uprooted.
As the last tanks pulled
out of town, two boys emerged from a house and planted a Palestinian
flag in the sand.
"I hope that this will
be the last time we see them as invaders," said Rafet Jamal, 45,
watching from a balcony with his 12-year-old son. "It's time to
rebuild our nation, our society, and replant the roots of peace."
His farm had also been bulldozed by Israeli troops.
The Palestinian police, toting
Kalashinkov rifles now roam the city or sit in green tents beside the
rubble of their destroyed headquarters and among the ruined orchards.
As far as the eye can see
around this city of jerry-built houses, the fields are empty. Palestinian
vehicles move freely on the Salah Eddin road throwing up clouds of dust.
And to the north, where the
tanks have withdrawn to, Colonel Asef Abu Ayman of Force 17 spoke of
his intention to hunt down militants who fire their Qassam rockets onto
the nearby israeli town. His men had found an old rocket on a hill overlooking
the city and were blowing it up. "We will do our best to arrest
those who shoot at Israel," he said.
Peter Hansen, a senior UN
official said that 1134 homes had been demolished in the Gaza Strip.
"The victims are simply people living in the wrong place at the
wrong time," he said.