In response to Israelis leave, Gazans pick up the pieces

Jul. 1, 2003

this is a quote which surfaced despite the known self censorship of journalists and residents under despotic regimes... see link for entire article

Beit Hanoun residents 'tired of all this'
By INIGO GILMORE, DAILY TELEGRAPH
Beit Hanoun

There were no signs of celebration in Beit Hanoun and little in the way of optimism even after Israeli tanks pulled out of this devastated area of the Gaza Strip yesterday.

Soon after Israel began its withdrawal from the northern Gaza town, where some 25,000 people live, Palestinian police set up three checkpoints.

On the other side of Beit Hanoun was a wasteland of broken tree stumps. In this area, thousands of orange trees had been uprooted by Israeli bulldozers.

Youssef Askar, 18, explained that Islamic Jihad activists had used the orange grove to fire home-made Qassam rockets towards a town over the border in Israel. His uncle grew angry and told him to be quiet, but he persisted. "They come here and fire their rockets and the Israelis come and destroy our land," he said. "We are tired of all this, we are very, very tired. We want peace."