XPost: uk.politics.misc, soc.culture.palestine, soc.culture.egyptian   
   XPost: soc.culture.israel, alt.conspiracy   
   From: oO@oO.com   
      
   The world rebuilds it, Israelis destroy it - again and again and again   
      
   What's wrong with this picture?   
     Beit Hanoun's veteran bridge builder shrugged off his latest misfortune:   
   the Israelis destroyed the main span into town three years ago. The European   
   Union rebuilt it. And overnight the Israelis destroyed it again.   
      
     "I'm sad but what can I do," said Wagih Elbity, the city's 59-year-old   
   civil engineer, after an air strike jolted him out of bed on Tuesday morning   
   and turned another of his beloved concrete bridges into a steaming mound of   
   rubble and sewage.   
      
     Elbity said Beit Hanoun, a northern Gaza town of 20,000, would appeal   
   again to the EU for funds to rebuild. But with the Hamas-led Palestinian   
   government facing a Western aid boycott, he said: "This time, they cannot   
   give us any money."   
   I have a novel idea. Make Israelis pay for it.   
      
     The air and ground offensive has also devastated Gaza's infrastructure,   
   compounding Palestinian hardships and upsetting international donors who   
   have poured millions of dollars into rebuilding it after earlier Israeli   
   offensives.   
      
      
     * * *   
      
      
     Swedish, British and other envoys have stepped up pressure on Israel in   
   recent days. Even the United States, Israel's staunchest ally, is   
   complaining about strikes against bridges and power stations, some built   
   with U.S. taxpayer money.   
   Israelis are allowed to kill women and children with impunity, but when it   
   affects bankers' pockets the world takes a stand.   
      
     Since the bombing began on June 28, two of the largest donors to the   
   Palestinians -- the European Union and Japan -- have seen several large   
   projects destroyed or damaged. The Japanese government just launched a $19   
   million programme to rehabilitate and widen Gaza's Salahudeen Road, badly   
   damaged by previous Israeli raids, when the Israelis bombed it again.   
      
     Not even Washington has been spared. Gaza's main power plant, bombed on   
   the first night of the offensive, was insured for up to $48 million by an   
   arm of the U.S. government.   
   Why not? As long as someone else picks up the tab.   
      
     "This is frustrating," said Eliasson of Sweden, whose government provided   
   two of the six electric transformers that were destroyed on June 28 -- at a   
   cost of $1 million each.   
      
     "We are very concerned that installations we financed for the well-being   
   of the people of Gaza are being wasted," he said.   
      
     Former Palestinian public works minister, Abdel-Rahman Hamad, said   
   international reconstruction projects will have to be put on hold until   
   Israel agrees not to strike them in future. [which they will never do]   
      
     "How do you convince donors to fund a bridge when the Israelis are going   
   to just destroy it again?" asked Hamad as he peered through the gaping holes   
   blasted in the Beit Hanoun bridge. "It is a waste of time and money."   
   That's the whole plan. Reduce Palestinians to a slave race with no economy   
   of their own and nowhere to turn for assistance.   
      
     With more than $300,000 in EU funding, the four-lane bridge was just two   
   years old when it was bombed on Saturday.   
      
     But one lane survived. Early Tuesday morning, Israel finished the job with   
   two missiles, witnesses said.   
      
     Now only one bridge remains standing in Beit Hanoun. "After two or three   
   nights, maybe Israel will destroy this bridge too," Elbity said.   
   You can count on it.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)