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Shifting Sands

(Ha'aretz) Ari Shavit - Gabi Kreim, the architect in charge of planning Gush Katif, remembers the beginning: monster dunes of 10 and 20 meters. And the jeeps with the balloon wheels from the Land Settlement Department trying to cut a path through the dunes to locate the right place: the place where Zionism would plant the Gush Katif settlement bloc. Yigal Allon asserted in May 1968 that the creation of a Jewish presence in the heart of the Gaza Strip was of supreme national importance. Motta Gur thought that establishing settlements in the center of the Gaza Strip was of great military importance. Yisrael Galili believed that the settlements would forge a strategic buffer between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Ariel Sharon proposed that the Gaza Strip be sundered by means of five penetrating "settlement fingers." An initial government decision was made in June 1970. In 1972, the first Nahal outposts (combining military service with agricultural settlement activity) were set up at Netzarim and Morag. But it was only during the period of the first Rabin government that a detailed plan was drawn up for permanent civilian settlement. In February 1977, Prime Minister Rabin arrived for the ceremony to "civilianize" the paramilitary settlements. He said that the settlement of Netzer Hazani is Israel's security and that it is an integral part of the State of Israel.
2005-08-12 00:00:00
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