[UPI] Joshua Brilliant - Gaza and the West Bank are drifting apart. "We are seeing the beginning of two states. A state of Gaza under Hamas' control and the State of the West Bank governed from Ramallah," says Shalom Harari, a prominent Israeli analyst of Palestinian affairs. The West Bank is slightly smaller than Delaware with 2.5 million Palestinians. The Gaza Strip is double the size of Washington, D.C. and cramped with 1.5 million people. About a million of them are registered refugees. Israel is 22 miles wide between the two territories. Ramallah is more affluent, and Ramallah's residents seem more sophisticated, leading many West Bankers to look down upon the Gazans. In the last Jerusalem Media and Communications Center poll of Palestinian opinion, 43% of the West Bankers supported suicide bombings against Israelis, but in Gaza 56% favored it.
2007-03-09 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive