Military

DATE=8/13/05

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL/DISENGAGEMENT/DETAILS (L-Only)

NUMBER=2-326548

BYLINE=BARRY NEWHOUSE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

CONTENT=

HEADLINE: Deal Preserves Greenhouses in Gaza Pullout

INTRO: When Israeli settlers begin leaving Gaza Monday, they will pack-up all of their possessions, dismantle their homes and synagogues and dig up their cemeteries to rebury their dead elsewhere. But under a last minute deal, most of their greenhouses will stay. VOA's Barry Newhouse has this report from Washington about the plan to preserve a vital source of employment in the impoverished Gaza Strip.

TEXT: Under a deal reached days before Israel's scheduled withdrawal from Gaza, special envoy James Wolfensohn raised some 14-million-dollars in private funds to buy about one-thousand settler greenhouses, and turn them over to the Palestinians.

Settler homes and buildings will be dismantled and recycled for Palestinian use under a separate arrangement between Israeli and Palestinian officials.

Mr. Wolfensohn's deal preserves one of Gaza's largest employers.

Israel's ambassador to Washington, Daniel Ayalon, says Israel's withdrawal from 21 Gaza settlements and four in the West Bank is not only a strategic move for peace, but is also a way to improve the Palestinians' living conditions.

/// 1ST AYALON ACT ///

"As we leave Gaza, and some parts of the West Bank, we are not leaving scorched earth. On the contrary, we are leaving behind means for them to take over and immediately better their situation."

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Ayalon said the greenhouses now provide jobs to some four-thousand Palestinians, and could employ six-thousand more.

The majority of Gaza's residents are young and poor. The median age is 15 years old and about 80-percent of the population lives in poverty. Unemployment is high.

Speaking to reporters in Washington (on Friday), Ambassador Ayalon said Israel and the Bush administration support boosting Gaza's economy.

/// 2ND AYALON ACT ///

"We share the vision of this administration of an open Gaza, prosperous Gaza. It's an Israeli interest, it's a Palestinian interest and it's a win-win situation."

/// END ACT ///

However, unlike the deal to transfer the greenhouses, easing Gaza's strict border and trade controls depends on the situation after the pullout is completed, a process that could take several weeks. The ambassador says border patrols will leave sensitive areas only if Israel is assured that Palestinian officials have reigned in militant groups and halted smuggling. (SIGNED)

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