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Gazans Celebrate First Day of Freedom
If this AP story title isn't infuriating enough...Screw the Road Map Palestinian boys waded fully clothed into the Mediterranean on once-forbidden beaches. Parents guided children through demolished Jewish settlements, where scavengers grabbed everything from red roof tiles to light posts. Hundreds climbed over a wall separating Gaza and Egypt to reunite with relatives. Gaza's Palestinians got their first taste of freedom after Israeli troops left the coastal strip Monday. They took full possession of the territory for the first time following hundreds of years of subjugation by the Ottoman Empire, the British, the Egyptians and finally the Israelis. ''These are days of glory,'' Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas declared. But he warned of the long road ahead to Palestinian statehood. The storming of the Egyptian border marred the celebrations, as did a series of deaths. The Palestinians who clamored over the walls included Islamic militants waving the green Hamas flag, raising Israeli concerns about whether Palestinian and Egyptian security can control the territory and its border. Egyptian border guards shot and killed one Palestinian; four others, who did not know how to swim, drowned after jumping into the ocean, Palestinian health officials said. Yet for one day, euphoria poured over this overcrowded and economically depressed sliver of land. Traffic jams paralyzed Gaza as Palestinians marveled at the remnants of Israel's 38-year occupation and went to places that had been off limits for years. ''Since last night, I have been in the street, for no reason, just to breathe the air of freedom,'' said Samir Khader, a farmer in northern Gaza who had needed Israeli permits to go in and out of his village, flanked by Jewish settlements. ''I don't know what the future will bring, but at least, I can come in and out of my house at any time.'' Posted by: Captain America 2005-09-12 |
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