Palestinian sources report that, on Saturday 10 February 2001, 22 Palestinian families living in the Mawasi district of the Gaza Strip (near Khan Yunis) were given eviction orders requiring them to evacuate their houses by the following day, Sunday 11 February. The houses are set for demolition for "reasons of security". The inhabitants decided they will defy the orders and stay on in their homes.
The information reached the Jerusalem-based RTIC (Real-Time Information Centre), which is engaged in monitoring the situation in the occupied territories (it is affiliated to the Alternative Information Centre). RTIC alerted Knesset Members and peace organizations, among them Gush Shalom (the Israeli Peace Bloc).
The Mawasi is an enclave of Palestinian houses and farms surrounded on all sides by the Israeli settlements of the Katif Bloc. The settlers have long tried to "get rid" of this Palestinian presence, and violently assaulted their Palestinian neighbours on various occasions.
In one case, about a month ago, settlers were shown on Israeli and international television setting fire to Palestinian fields, orchards and houses at the Mawasi. (Two settlers were arrested, but soon released on bail). At the time, the settlers' pirate radio station, Arutz 7, broadcast interviews with settler leaders, who called upon the army to completely destroy the Palestinian homes in the Mawasi.
It seems that army is now prepared to implement this settler demand - at the very time when negotiations are under way between outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Barak and his successor, Ariel Sharon, on the forming of a national unity cabinet.
The mass demolition order at the Mawasi, issued while Barak is still formally in charge, seems to be the shape of things to come: an unholy alliance in which the brutal oppression characteristic of Ariel Sharon throughout his career is given Labour Party approval and legitimization.
Further information, contact Real-Time Information Centre
on (+972)-2-6241424, or Gush Shalom on (+972)-3-5565804