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Israel exits, but Gaza's residents find they may not get land back

By Associated press
Published October 1, 2005

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israel seized Fatma Khalaf's farmland five years ago as a security buffer for a Jewish settlement. Now that the Israelis are gone from Gaza, she wants her 50 acres back.

But the Palestinian Authority has different plans.

It wants to build high-rise apartments, universities and new farms on the ruins of the Israeli settlements and says land expropriated by Israel will not automatically be returned to its owners.

When her property was taken, Khalaf was building a house on it. She and her sons want to resume construction, open a seaside restaurant and cultivate the rest of the land. "We came out from Jews' (occupation) unscathed," Khalaf said. "Now, we won't let the Arabs take it."

The rebuilding of Gaza cannot start until land claims like Khalaf's are settled - a process that has yet to begin and could take months because of multiple land registration practices that started during Ottoman rule before World War I. "We have a plan: that all the lands (appropriated) in Gaza be used for public good," Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said recently.

Even before the Israeli pullout from Gaza earlier this month, he decreed that the government would take control of all lands and assets that Israel left behind.

His decision was meant to dispel concerns that settlement land would be distributed unfairly and that senior government officials would benefit personally.

Many owners vow to fight. Khalaf, in her 60s, threatened to shoot any official who comes near her prime seaside plot: "No one can take our land again."

The government has not published its final plans yet, but a sign across from Khalaf's property already advertises the construction of a future Gaza seaport.

Officials say landowners can present claims once a budget is set for surveying teams. Private landowners whose land is needed for development will later be offered alternate plots or compensation, said Freih Abu Medein, director of the Palestinian Lands Authority.

JERUSALEM - The Islamic militant group Hamas, the main threat to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' rule, suffered a setback in local elections in dozens of West Bank towns and villages, final results indicated Friday.

The outcome - 54 percent of Thursday's vote for Abbas' Fatah movement and 26 percent for Hamas - was in line with a modest rise in support for Fatah following Israel's pullout from Gaza.

[Last modified October 1, 2005, 01:46:16]