Palestinians pick up lives after Israeli raid

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By Nidal al-Mughrabi

Rafah - "Water" was on the lips of Palestinians thirsting for a return to normality on Monday after Israeli forces ended a siege of a battered Gaza refugee camp neighbourhood.

Emerging from their homes as Israeli armoured vehicles left in a cloud of dust, men, women and children in the Tel Sultan area of Rafah approached journalists in the street to voice one message: "We want water."

The only thing running in the neighbourhood in the immediate aftermath of the pullout was sewage in streets torn up by tank tracks.

http://iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=3&art_id=qw1085390101788B253&set_id=1

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1. Palestinians bury their dead

Chris Otton | Rafah, Gaza Strip

Thousands of Palestinians poured into the streets of Rafah on Monday to bury 16 of those killed in Israel's offensive, hours after the army ended its occupation of the battered Tal al-Sultan area.

Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was due to meet Egypt's intelligence chief General Omar Suleiman in Ramallah to discuss the week-long raid in southern Gaza, which has thus far left 43 Palestinians dead.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, under global pressure to put a stop to the repression in Rafah, has pledged to put his revised plan for a gradual military withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip to his cabinet next Sunday.

http://mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=66795&t=1

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3. Gaza town in ruins as Israel leaves

AP , RAFAH, GAZA STRIP
Tuesday, May 25, 2004,Page 7

Israeli troops withdrew from a besieged Palestinian district in this refugee camp early yesterday, leaving behind dozens of demolished homes, acres of leveled agricultural land and residents despairing over how the destruction will be repaired.

The military said that in the framework of the partial redeployment, Israeli forces released the quarantine from the Tel Sultan neighborhood, and residents were free to leave and enter. Troops continued to operate in the Brazil area of the refugee camp.

Tel Sultan was the first focus of the Israeli sweep through the sprawling refugee camp on the Gaza-Egypt border. Residents said the tanks pulled back in the direction of a Jewish settlement after midnight. However, the six-day Israeli raid continued in other areas of the camp.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/05/25/2003156894