Looters strip Gaza greenhouses

[Rogue 9]

MSNBC

Looters strip Gaza greenhouses

Facilities seen as key to Palestinians’ rebuilding of area vacated by Israelis

Updated: 10:25 p.m. ET Sept. 13, 2005

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip - Palestinians looted dozens of greenhouses on Tuesday, walking off with irrigation hoses, water pumps and plastic sheeting in a blow to fledgling efforts to reconstruct the Gaza Strip.

American Jewish donors had bought more than 3,000 greenhouses from Israeli settlers in Gaza for $14 million last month and transferred them to the Palestinian Authority. Former World Bank President James Wolfensohn, who brokered the deal, put up $500,000 of his own cash.

Palestinian police stood by helplessly Tuesday as looters carted off materials from greenhouses in several settlements, and commanders complained they did not have enough manpower to protect the prized assets. In some instances, there was no security and in others, police even joined the looters, witnesses said.

I wish I could say I was surprised, but I'm really not. And the settlers walked away with somewhere between $14 million to leave the greenhouses behind...

[frigidmagi]

This isn't going to help the Palestinians at all.