Palestinian PM urges locals to protect Gaza Strip

PALESTINIAN prime minister Ahmed Qureia surveyed the wreckage of Israel’s former Gaza Strip settlements yesterday after his government was handed control of the whole territory.

As locals continued a looting spree the day after Israeli troops left the territory, Mr Qureia urged the Palestinian people to protect the land and infrastructure bequeathed by their occupiers, and build for the future.

The looting and chaos at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, where control has effectively broken down, illustrates the huge task facing the Palestinian leadership to reverse the fortunes of the impoverished strip of coastal land.

The international community has placed major stock in the pullout, hoping it can help revive the ailing peace process and put an end to bloodshed that has claimed some 5,000 lives - mainly Palestinian - over the last five years.

UN General Secretary Kofi Annan congratulated both Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and the pullout’s architect, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, as the world body prepared to host new talks on the peace process.

As he toured the main Gush Katif settlement bloc in southern Gaza which housed 15 of the 21 former Jewish enclaves, Mr Qureia said: “Please protect this land. It is for you and yours to protect.”

In some of the settlements, security forces half-heartedly tried to expel looters but stopped short of using force or confiscating their booty.

“The (Israeli) tanks destroyed our farms. The Palestinian Authority is all talk and no action,” said one looter as he ripped out a three-metre irrigation hose in Netzer Hazani while others made off with the tarpaulin covering of greenhouses which had been handed over to the Palestinians.

People living in nearby towns such as Rafah and Khan Yunis, long barred from entering Gush Katif, ransacked the settlements on Monday.

Synagogues, which Israel refused to destroy, were torched, tiling and piping carted off, and the handful of municipal buildings left intact were vandalised.

Quoreia attributed the scenes of chaos to the pent-up fury felt by people towards their former Israeli neighbours who lived in relative luxury.

He denied it exposed any weakness from the Palestinian Authority.

“This is not a matter of weakness. It is people expressing their feelings that the situation should be changed,” he said.

The mayor of Khan Yunis predicted that the looting would soon die out.

“Yesterday was horrible, today is less bad and tomorrow will taper off even more,” said Osama al-Sarra.

Mr Qureia later convened a cabinet session devoted to the aftermath of the pullout while Abbas was to deliver a televised address to the nation on the withdrawal.

Amid the continuing fallout from his disengagement plan, Mr Sharon left for New York where he is to address the UN General Assembly and is expected to milk plaudits for his pull-out.