Word: gaza
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...overcome dark disillusion among Arabs and Israelis alike. After the euphoria following the 1993 agreement, the peace process seemed mired in blood as Palestinian terrorists tested Israel's patience and Israelis cracked down with chokehold security arrangements over the Palestinians' newly autonomous enclaves of Jericho and the Gaza Strip. Yet two nearly uninterrupted months of living and working in the same hotel enabled more than 100 negotiators from each side not only to bridge these differences but also to develop a grudging respect, even affection, for one another. The encyclopedic document that resulted takes a giant step toward turning...
When Palestinian self-rule expands to embrace most of the West Bank, its success or failure--absent extremist spasms--will rest on two ingredients: the cooperation of Israel and the presence of a competent, politically open Palestinian administration. On both counts, a chastening lesson comes from the Gaza Strip, where self-rule began with the establishment of Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority in May 1994. That dust-blown, dirt-poor piece of land, home to nearly a million Palestinians, is as sad a place now as it was then--and Israelis and Palestinians share the blame for its mood...
Perhaps predictably, the main complaint in Gaza is that Palestinian Authority or not, Israel is still calling the shots. Gazans initially were jubilant over the redeployment of Israeli troops from populated areas to strategic roads and strong points--no more identity checks, no more nightly curfew. By now they have concluded that in psychological terms the occupation continues. "We still feel the heavy hand of Israel," says Aown Shawa, the mayor of Gaza City. "Getting in and out, for example, is worse than before." Israel's eight closures of the border this year--for security, say Israelis; for harassment...
Arafat still enjoys majority support among Gazans, but only because they assume his hands are tied by Israeli restraints. That won't last forever, especially as his writ begins to extend into the West Bank. Palestinians, not just in Gaza, are taking note. "I haven't lost hope," says Surani...
During his stay in Jericho and the Gaza Strip, Alherinai said he saw human rights violations committed by Palestinian authorities against other Palestinians...