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Greenhouses on the cheap? High tech hothouses in Gush Katif.
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners January 25, 2005 |
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The World Bank has denied reports attributed to Yonatan Bassi, the head of the Disengagement Authority, that the organization intends to buy Israeli-owned greenhouses in Gaza and then transfer them to the Palestinian Authority.
Stefano Mocce, a spokesman for the World Bank, when asked whether there was a possibility that the organization will buy the greenhouses, responded: "It is not within our mandate."
The Jerusalem Post reported that Mocce said the Bank would not act as a third party, transferring assets to other international bodies or organizations.
He said the World Bank hoped that with the new political situation in the Palestinian Authority, Israel could deal directly with the PA regarding the assets it would leave behind.
A spokesman for Bassi claims he was misquoted and only stated that there might be the possibility of an international group buying the hot-houses from the Gaza owners. The spokesman said he did not mention the World Bank in this context.
In relation to this, Katif.net reported that Bassi also discussed the program for continued agricultural production by Gush Katif residents to be relocated. It seems that not every resident will have his home in the same geographical area as his farm.
The disengagement director described a plan to prepare an area of 1000 dunams which will be suitable for greenhouse crops. The ministry of agriculture, the Israeli Lands Authority and the Israeli Water Authority have allotted the necessities (land and water) for the plan and 20 million Shekels ($4.5M) has been set aside for developing its infrastructure.
Sharon's government has said that Israel would dismantle or destroy houses and synagogues, and to disinter corpses and move them elsewhere, but it did not say that industrial or agricultural infrastructure would be dismantled or destroyed.
There have been reports that the government, supported by the army, is now reconsidering its plan to destroy the homes of Jews, but is deterred by the public response to expected scenes of terrorists dancing on their rooves.
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