JERUSALEM -- Two weeks ago, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sent his forces into the West Bank to "uproot the infrastructure of terror." Since then, the uprooting inflicted by his tanks, bulldozers, helicopters and sappers has created a landscape of devastation from Bethlehem to Jenin.
The images are indelible: piles of concrete and twisted metal in the ancient casbah of Nablus, husks of savaged computers littering ministries in Ramallah, rows of storefronts sheared by passing tanks in Tulkarem, broken pipes gushing precious water, flattened cars in fields of shattered glass and garbage, electricity poles snapped like twigs, tilting walls where homes used to stand, gaping holes where rockets pierced office buildings.
On Wednesday, on the day after 13 Israeli soldiers were killed going house to house in the crowded refugee camp of Jenin, the D-9 bulldozer was sent in instead, erasing whole stretches of tightly packed concrete houses.
There is no way to assess the full extent of the latest damage to the cities and towns -- Ramallah, Bethlehem, Tulkarem, Kalkilya, Nablus and Jenin -- while they remain under a tight siege, with patrols and snipers firing in the streets.
But it safe to say that the infrastructure of life itself and of any future Palestinian state -- roads, schools, electricity pylons, water pipes, telephone lines -- has been devastated.
International aid and development organizations have managed to make only occasional forays into the besieged towns. The images and reports of damage and destruction have come largely from journalists who make risky forays into the towns, or from residents reporting what they see when curfews are briefly lifted so they can restock on supplies.
What they see is only the visible destruction. Untold damage has been done to the workings of the Palestinian Authority. World Bank officials said they had briefly visited the Education Ministry, the Central Bureau of Statistics and some other offices of the authority, and found computers stripped of their hard drives, files ransacked and taken away, safes blasted open.
The latest spasm of destruction has come on top of the 19 months of fighting that left countless families without income and 40,000 people hospitalized at one time or another.
Long before Sharon unleashed Israeli forces, he had regularly sent jets and helicopters to flatten police stations, jails, television facilities and buildings used by Arafat.
"We started in 1994 with damage control after the occupation. In 1995 we moved to rehabilitation. In 1999 we were building new infrastructure, roads, apartments, a seaport, strategic projects," said Mohammed Shtayyeh, the director of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction. "Then Sharon went to the mosque, God bless him, and we're back to damage control."
In 1999, the best year for the Palestinians, there were 20 million square meters of construction under way, $8 billion in private investment, 143,000 Palestinians working in Israel each bringing home $30 a day, a 6 percent rate of growth.
"The Palestinian administration was highly functional, and delivered good services," said Nigel Roberts, the World Bank representative for the West Bank and Gaza. "One of the good stories of the past 19 months was that they managed to maintain a functioning civil administration that delivered basic services, health, education, despite all the problems of delivering these services."
All that has been crushed. Now, according to a World Bank report compiled before the Israeli operations of the past two weeks, real incomes are below what they were in the late 1980s, the proportion of the poor -- those subsiding on less than $2 per day -- has doubled to almost half the population of the West Bank and Gaza.
Behind the statistics are the endless stories of lost income, lost investment and lost hope.
Before the current Israeli offensive began, Yasser Safadi, 31, stood in Gaza surveying a distant, muddy field that used to be his $3 million concrete works. The plant was near a road used by Jewish settlers living in Nissanit, and in January 2001, Israeli bulldozers flattened the entire factory to clear a buffer zone around the road. The same was done throughout the Gaza Strip, one of the most crowded patches of real estate on earth.
Safadi said the tanks took five days to destroy his plant. Fifty five employees were laid off, depriving 385 Gazans of a source of income. Safadi was left with more than $1 million in debt.
"Even if they leave, how can I afford to rebuild? And if I do, how can I be sure they'll not destroy it again?"
The images are indelible: piles of concrete and twisted metal in the ancient casbah of Nablus, husks of savaged computers littering ministries in Ramallah, rows of storefronts sheared by passing tanks in Tulkarem, broken pipes gushing precious water, flattened cars in fields of shattered glass and garbage, electricity poles snapped like twigs, tilting walls where homes used to stand, gaping holes where rockets pierced office buildings.
On Wednesday, on the day after 13 Israeli soldiers were killed going house to house in the crowded refugee camp of Jenin, the D-9 bulldozer was sent in instead, erasing whole stretches of tightly packed concrete houses.
There is no way to assess the full extent of the latest damage to the cities and towns -- Ramallah, Bethlehem, Tulkarem, Kalkilya, Nablus and Jenin -- while they remain under a tight siege, with patrols and snipers firing in the streets.
But it safe to say that the infrastructure of life itself and of any future Palestinian state -- roads, schools, electricity pylons, water pipes, telephone lines -- has been devastated.
International aid and development organizations have managed to make only occasional forays into the besieged towns. The images and reports of damage and destruction have come largely from journalists who make risky forays into the towns, or from residents reporting what they see when curfews are briefly lifted so they can restock on supplies.
What they see is only the visible destruction. Untold damage has been done to the workings of the Palestinian Authority. World Bank officials said they had briefly visited the Education Ministry, the Central Bureau of Statistics and some other offices of the authority, and found computers stripped of their hard drives, files ransacked and taken away, safes blasted open.
The latest spasm of destruction has come on top of the 19 months of fighting that left countless families without income and 40,000 people hospitalized at one time or another.
Long before Sharon unleashed Israeli forces, he had regularly sent jets and helicopters to flatten police stations, jails, television facilities and buildings used by Arafat.
"We started in 1994 with damage control after the occupation. In 1995 we moved to rehabilitation. In 1999 we were building new infrastructure, roads, apartments, a seaport, strategic projects," said Mohammed Shtayyeh, the director of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction. "Then Sharon went to the mosque, God bless him, and we're back to damage control."
In 1999, the best year for the Palestinians, there were 20 million square meters of construction under way, $8 billion in private investment, 143,000 Palestinians working in Israel each bringing home $30 a day, a 6 percent rate of growth.
"The Palestinian administration was highly functional, and delivered good services," said Nigel Roberts, the World Bank representative for the West Bank and Gaza. "One of the good stories of the past 19 months was that they managed to maintain a functioning civil administration that delivered basic services, health, education, despite all the problems of delivering these services."
All that has been crushed. Now, according to a World Bank report compiled before the Israeli operations of the past two weeks, real incomes are below what they were in the late 1980s, the proportion of the poor -- those subsiding on less than $2 per day -- has doubled to almost half the population of the West Bank and Gaza.
Behind the statistics are the endless stories of lost income, lost investment and lost hope.
Before the current Israeli offensive began, Yasser Safadi, 31, stood in Gaza surveying a distant, muddy field that used to be his $3 million concrete works. The plant was near a road used by Jewish settlers living in Nissanit, and in January 2001, Israeli bulldozers flattened the entire factory to clear a buffer zone around the road. The same was done throughout the Gaza Strip, one of the most crowded patches of real estate on earth.
Safadi said the tanks took five days to destroy his plant. Fifty five employees were laid off, depriving 385 Gazans of a source of income. Safadi was left with more than $1 million in debt.
"Even if they leave, how can I afford to rebuild? And if I do, how can I be sure they'll not destroy it again?"
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Not ready to support today?
Remind me later.
Remind me later.
×
Remind me next month
Thank you! Your reminder is set.
We will send you one reminder email a month from now. For details on the personal data we collect and how it is used, please see our Privacy Policy.