Gaza Housing

Simple answer - the Palestinian authority requested it. There's a critical housing shortage, so they'll build multi-storey housing to replace the current low density housing.

quote:

Originally posted by Coxybabe:
Whilst it is good to see Israel making a real effort towards peace in its region by withdrawing from the occupied territories in Gaza, can anyone please explain to me the completely non-sensical decision to demolish all of the housing?

Surely it would have been the most generous act and a positive demonstarion of friendship to have left the houses and villages standing? Sometimes this world leaves me reeling backwards.

Regards to all

While one admires your compassion and apparent common sense up to a point. The Palestinian's territory is so small they can't affford sprawling luxury villages on their land. They need every square yard they can get and asked that the Israelies demolished these settlements. A cynic might have suggested that one or more of the armed groups would have taken over the settlements as reward for their "sacrifices" in getting the Israeli withdrawl.

Shame the popular Israeli snipers weren't used to take out the lunatic fringe religious bigots trying to stop the withdrawl isn't it? The snipers must have had years of practice potting off skinny little Palestinian kids, international peace workers, etc. Might have made a refreshing change to their normal working day to aim for another target?

To put the size of Gaza in perspective, consider that Gaza has an area of aprox. 360 square kilometers with a population of 1,376 million. Singapore has an area of 682 square kilometers with a population of 4,425 million. I find it a bit irritating that the media message is constantly how small & crowded Gaza is, somehow implying that this large ghetto cannot possibly be expected to do anything other than fail. I do wish people would stop being so patronising towards the Palestinian people and treating them like some combination of "noble savages" and imbeciles.
Nime, your post is racist and offensive and really does not merit further response.

Jab, I’d just like to correct what I see as few inaccuracies in your post.

To compare 360sq km in Gaza to 682 sq km in Singapore is meaningless. The vast majority of Singapore’s residential property is quality high-rise condos and its high rise office blocks rather than the predominately low level residential slums and commerce of Gaza. One would have some difficulty accommodating 9000 office workers in a low-rise building occupying approximately 28,000 sq ft. of land, yet add another 49 floors and a building such as 1 Canada Square in Canary Wharf does just that and in some style. I think that a comparison of the available living and working floor area would be more realistic.

Allowing for agricultural land, settlements, their access roads and land held by the IDF, only somewhere between 20 and 30% of Gaza’s 360sq km has been available for Palestinian residential use. That takes the figure from some 8-9000 per square mile to 30,000 per sq mile in places; that is some serious overcrowding which has quite rightly garnered media attention over the years. Although withdrawal of the settlements and some well-planned housing schemes will hopefully ease this problem, the scale of the current overcrowding cannot be easily dismissed.

As far as I can see nobody, including the media, considers it likely that the size and demographics of Gaza will pose any serious impediment to it’s economic growth prospects unlike the thorny and very real issue of access in and out of this area and Gaza’s ability to trade and move goods freely with neighbours and beyond. To return to your comparison, IIRC Singapore’s success was almost entirely due it’s transport links by sea, air and railway through Malaysia to Bangkok. Were goods not able to enter and leave Singapore freely it’s hard to envisage how its economy would have prospered and lessons should be learnt now if the Israelis have any serious hopes of having a viable, prosperous and peaceful Palestinian state as their neighbours.

If the Palestinians of the occupied territories are being patronized then of course that it is wrong, but I think that the real injustice, inhumanity and deprivation that the majority of them have suffered in this conflict is considerably more brutal and savage than any condescension.

"Noble savages"?