Palestinian experts believe that the settlements should be demolished because they would not fit the dense Palestinian population.

GAZA CITY, April 16, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The fate of millions-of-dollars-worth settlement assets to be evacuated by Jewish settlers under Israel’s planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank later this year hangs in the balance.

“The assets themselves fall under three categories: houses, infrastructure and dozens of greenhouses,” the chairman of Khan Yunis municipality, Osama Al-Fara, told IslamOnline.net Saturday, April 16.

Fara said the infrastructure, which covers electricity, water and sewerage, should be left intact for the Palestinians.

“The Palestinian Authority should also make the best use of the squat greenhouses and transfer them to arable land” when they assume control of the evacuated areas, he added.

The Gaza Strip’s settlement assets are estimated at $500 million, said Palestinian settlement expert Khalil Tafkji, citing World Bank figures.

Israel, however, valued the assets at one billion dollars and compensated each settler with 350,000 dollars.

The 21 settlements, which consist of 1,300 housing units occupied by some 6,429 Jewish settlers, are built on 116.5 kilometers of the 362-km Strip, nearly 32.13 % of the overall space of the Strip, which has a Palestinian population of 1.3 million.

Greenhouses occupy 56 kilometers of the Strip and there are 12 wells.

In February, the Israeli government crucially voted to evacuate the 21 settlements in the Strip along with four more in the West Bank during the summer of 2005.

Tafkji and Fara believe that the settlements should be demolished after the pullout because they would not fit the dense Palestinian population.

“These settlements would not accommodate all the Palestinians of the Strip because they had been built horizontally.

“So, they should be demolished and replaced with new apartment complexes built vertically.”

The Gaza Strip is considered one of the most populated areas in the world.

“If Israel does not demolish them, the Palestinian Authority should do,” Fara said.

Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres opposed in February the demolition idea, going for selling them to Arab investors like UAE construction tycoon Mohammad Ali Al-Abbar, who was interested in initiating development and tourist projects in the coast-side Gush Katif bloc of settlements.

But Palestinian legal experts dismissed such sale as “illegal” since the Palestinians are the real landlords.

They said buying the settlement assets will be tantamount to rewarding Israel for occupying Palestinian territories and opening a new door for normalizing Arab ties with Tel Aviv.

Palestinian resistance factions also want to be involved in any future talks over the settlement assets.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zehri said the movement has called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to set up a committee comprising all mainstream factions to run the assets and properties that will be left behind.

“Hamas believes that private territories should be given back to their Palestinian proprietors, while the public ones should be used for the welfare of the Palestinians.”

Zehri suggested building factories on these lands, to cut down towering unemployment rates and boost the sluggish national economy, as well as social institutions like schools and orphanages.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday that the mission of outgoing World Bank President James Wolfensohn, the disengagement special envoy, would include helping decide the fate of the assets.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has promoted his “disengagement plan” as a bid that would help Israel cement its claim to the larger West Bank settlement blocs, which was re-endorsed last week by US President George W. Bush.