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Envoy: No scorched earth policy in Gaza
Ambassador to U.S. Danny Ayalon addresses pullout at National Press Club in Washington. Envoy talks of pain involved in evacuation, explains why settler homes will be razed. Ayalon: Palestinians must take difficult steps that would turn them into credible partners
By Yitzhak Benhorin
Ambassador to the United States Danny Ayalon delivered a speech Friday at the National Press Club in Washington, where he spoke about the upcoming pullout and the pain involved in evacuating the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank.
Ayalon told reporters, most of them American and Arab, that about 8,500 people, 5,000 of them children, are leaving their homes, work, and the life they built for themselves.
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“Its objective is to boost the country’s security, economy, and future,” while giving the road map plan a chance, he said.
‘Possibly chance of a lifetime’
When asked why Israel will be razing settler homes, Ayalon said “the Palestinians have no use for such homes” and added Israel and the Palestinian Authority agreed on demolishing the structures, allowing the PA to recycle 80 percent of the materials to build new homes.
“We are not leaving scorched earth behind,” he said. “We are leaving behind infrastructures, maps, and hothouses valued at USD 80 million.”
Ayalon also noted that the entire disengagement process constitutes a test for the Palestinians, and particularly the hothouses.
“It’s an economic infrastructure that provides work for 4,000 Palestinians, with potential to create up to 10,000 jobs that would support 10 percent of the Palestinian population,” he said.
The ambassador characterized the pullout as chance that emerges once a generation, and possibly a chance of a lifetime, and noted both Israel and the U.S. share a vision of an open, prosperous Gaza.
However, Ayalon stressed that “everything depends on the Palestinian Authority,” and said it must use its authority to act against terrorism, create employment and build housing, and resettle Palestinian refugees. He also said the PA must act to prevent incitement and prevent the Gaza Strip from turning into a weapons warehouse and a terror haven.
Just as Israel adopted difficult, painful steps, the Palestinians need to adopt difficult measures that would turn them into credible partners, he said.
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