Hamas in Gaza (merged thread)

[Rex Brynen]

I would expect IDF to destroy what was theirs to destroy and leave no bunker, no outpost, no C&C sites, nothing they occupied to those who in turn could use said buildings in their fight against Israel.

No, they destroyed most everything (excepting the greenhouses). Senior Israeli officials indicated that this was, in large part, for reasons of political symbolism.

Rex's comments on the vineyards and settler's homes pretty much sums up where I'm coming from. That perfectly good, well built homes would be torn down to better utilize land pushes the limits of credibility to the maximum and leaves an old country boy like me scratching his head, and frankly, laughing.

Israeli housing in Gaza was heavily subsidized, and its maintenance costs were designed around smaller families with much, MUCH higher incomes, not larger families with much smaller incomes. The average Palestinian family couldn't have afforded to maintain the houses (there was no real disagreement on this among any of the local or international housing experts), nor would it have been a very efficient use of high-value land.

If goods from greenhouses couldn't be exported, they could be consumed but the fact of the matter is the greenhouses were destroyed very, very quickly because they were owned by Jews.

Actually, there was a pretty good harvest from the greenhouses the first year--while some were looted immediately, most of them weren't destroyed until later. Many of the greenhouses were configured for cut flower production (no market for that in Gaza!), or the high-end vegetable export market. What can't be exported often can't be sold domestically, since it spoils as the Israelis hold it at the border. What could be sold domestically was, but the lack of access to export markets nonetheless had serious implications for profitability. (Again, one has to recognize that settler industry and agriculture in Gaza wasn't always very economic to begin with, since it was based on a number of implicit Israeli subsidies.)

I'm not suggesting the PA handled the settlements well--actually, I think they did a very poor job. Ineffective site security and consequent looting was particularly problematic, reflecting the weak state of the PA security services.

I am suggesting that it was all rather more complicated than your comments would indicate.