Israelis leave, Gazans pick up the pieces

Faisal Shawwa, Palestinian olive grower and US citizen, is a man in search of compensation.

In late May, Israeli bulldozers plowed under 1,524 of his five-year-old olive trees - leaving a lone tree standing. The Israelis also destroyed an automated well and the irrigation system that delivered water to the trees. "It's not for security, it's just hate," Mr. Shawwa says. He plans to sue the Israeli government.

He and some other businesspeople in this northern Gaza town are stunned by what they are finding in the wake of the Israeli military's withdrawal: industrial buildings flattened, machinery ripped apart, trees uprooted.

"It's an earthquake," says the Palestinian Authority's governor for Gaza, Mohammed al-Qudwa, standing amid the remains of what was once the territory's largest floor-tile factory. "This is the destruction of the economic infrastructure of the Palestinian people;it's not for security reasons," he adds, citing the Israeli rationale for the demolition of trees and buildings.

"There isn't an ulterior motive. Beit Hanoun turned into a launchpad for the firing of rockets and mortars into Israeli towns," says Major Sharon Feingold, an Israeli army spokesperson. She estimates that the Palestinians fired some 250 rockets and mortars from the northern Gaza Strip. "We do not engage in collective punishment as the Palestinians wish to think," she adds. "But people who harbor and support terrorism will pay the price."

Beginning late Sunday, Israel began withdrawing from this town of some this town of some 30,000 people, ending an incursion that lasted about a month and half. The move marked Israel's first significant action in support of a US-backed peace effort, known as the road map, that Israel and the Palestinians have pledged to follow.

Tuesday Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas greeted each other warmly and emphasized their commitment to peace ahead of a meeting in Jerusalem. "I will make every effort to achieve a political settlement," Mr. Sharon said, "which will lead to calm - with God's help - to peace."

"Our conflict with you is a political conflict and we will end it through political means," responded Mr. Abbas.

Over the course of the past two years, Israel occupied Beit Hanoun perhaps a half-dozen times. But in eradicating the threats emanating from Beit Hanoun, the Israelis did their work with a thoroughness that has Palestinians wondering if economic motives were at play.

Jamil Abu Ghalion, the burly, square-faced owner of the floor-tile factory, wandered through his facility Tuesday with the corners of his mouth turned down and his palms sometimes turned upward in exasperation. He says he has no plans to rebuild. "With what?" he asks. "Who is going to compensate us?"

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