Israel plan for Gaza island aims to detach population from historic Palestine

A Dubai 'palm tree' off the coast of Gaza? What are the Israelis thinking? It's being sold as an economic opportunity but the main aim seems to be to try to further detach the people of Gaza from Palestine with all border crossings through Israel to be permanently sealed - in other words to get Gazans to look west and not east to the lost land of Palestine, and of course families on the West Bank and Gaza would be even more separated. Also, there's the little matter of Gaza's offshore gas reserves -Israel builds an 'open' port and takes the gas in return. Whatever the motives it is difficult to see this plan getting off the ground. No one seems to have bothered to ask people in Gaza what they think either.

Israel has been developing a secret plan over the past several months to build an eight square kilometers artificial island, 4.5 kilometers off the Gaza Strip coastline, which would be connected to the shore by a bridge, a source closed to the Israeli government told Xinhua on Wednesday.

The plan, developed by Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz and former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, will allow Palestinians in Gaza access to the world without needing to venture through Israeli or Egyptian border crossings, as well as allowing free imports and exports. news

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