Kein Betreff

> 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/20091218281740670.h
tml>

I want to draw comrades's attention to the paragraph quoting from Ayman 
Mohyeldin: "There is a 600-metre buffer zone which the Israeli army uses as 
a no-go, meaning that anyone who owns farmland in the area and tries to 
access it is often fired upon to try to deter them from approaching any 
closer."

This confirms my suspicion that Israel aims at establishment a death-strip 
along the border, which reminds me of the inner-German border between the 
GDR and the FRG. 

Anyway, the siege is not lifted, and Israeli's navy is still in the territorial 
waters of the Gaza strip. 

BTW, yesterday the economic press reported a big found of natural gas 
before the Israeli coast -- could they try and cheat the Palestinians again 
and rob the gas deposits in the Gaza part of the continental shelf? 


--------- full quote --------------------

Israel says Gaza pull-out completed

Israel has said its troops have completed their withdrawal from the Gaza 
Strip, although forces have redepoyed on the territory's outskirts and Israeli 
vessels remain in Gaza's territorial waters.

The Israeli military said its pull-out was completed before dawn on 
Wednesday, just hours after Barack Obama replaced George Bush as US 
president.

"The last soldier left the Gaza Strip this morning," an army spokesman said. 
"However the army remains deployed all around the Gaza Strip to meet any 
eventuality."

The army later issued a statement saying the troops had returned to Israeli 
territory, ending its so-called Operation Cast Lead.

But Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from Gaza City, said: "We can 
still see Israeli naval vessels still very much in territorial waters, and [they] 
have been heard firing through the course of the morning.

"It's important to remember that it is difficult for eyewitnesses to confirm [the 
withdrawal].

"There is a 600-metre buffer zone which the Israeli army uses as a no-go, 
meaning that anyone who owns farmland in the area and tries to access it is 
often fired upon to try to deter them from approaching any closer."


Deadly attack

Israel has made its full withdrawal from the Strip conditional upon a halt to 
rocket attacks on southern Israel by Palestinian fighters.

"The [Israeli] military is saying it's still very much keeping a war floating that 
allows it to attack if they feel threatened or if any rockets come out of 
Gaza," Mohyeldin reported.

"At the same time, the Palestinian factions have said if these troops are not 
gone completely gone within a week, they will resume rocket fire."

Palestinian health ministry figures list more than 1,300 people dead from 
Israel's offensive, including 410 children. Another 5,300 people were 
wounded, 1,855 of them children. A total of 13 Israelis died, three of them 
civilians.

Israel launched its massive assault on December 27, bombarding from land, 
air and sea the narrow coastal strip where 1.5 million Palestinians live.

----------------- end quote ----------------


Yours, 
Lüko Willms
Frankfurt, Germany
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