MERIP Media Resource List, August 12, 2005

AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS on the following topic:
- Israel begins removing settlers from Gaza on August 17

GEORGE AZAR
George Azar has covered the Middle East as a photojournalist for 23 years, including the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the Iran-Iraq war, the first Palestinian intifada and the 1991 Gulf war. He is author of Palestine, A Photographic Journey (University of California Press, 1991) and photographer for Palestine, A Traveler's Guide (Interlink Books, 2005). Currently living in Gaza, he is documenting everyday life among the Palestinians and covering events for the New York Times . A keen observer, he is ideally placed to discuss the Palestinian experience of the Israeli disengagement.

CHARLES D. SMITH
Charles D. Smith is the author of Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict , now in its fifth edition. He is professor of Middle East history at the University of Arizona. He said today: "I was living in Israel in 1982 when Ariel Sharon, as defense minister, oversaw the withdrawal from Yamit, the final Sinai settlement to be evacuated to fulfill the 1979 peace treaty with Egypt. Sharon evacuated the inhabitants and trucked in militant West Bank settlers to stage a 'resistance' to Israeli troops. He later announced that he had done so to stress the trauma of the occasion and that never again would any Israeli settlements be dismantled. Likud fury at Sharon's disengagement plan reflects his past announcements. No matter that his goal is retention of most of the West Bank with apparent Bush administration blessing, appearances of dismay to the contrary. Optimists hope that this withdrawal presages future pullbacks on the West Bank enabling a two-state solution. Sharon's past history suggests this is a fantasy."

DEBORAH J. GERNER
Deborah J. Gerner is professor of political science at the University of Kansas, co-director of the Center for International Political Analysis and a member of the editorial committee of Middle East Report . Gerner is editor of Understanding the Contemporary Middle East (2004) and author of One Land, Two Peoples: The Conflict over Palestine (1994). She said today: "While the Israeli disengagement and the removal of the settlements from Gaza appears on the surface to be a positive development for both Israelis and Palestinians, its benefits are actually quite one-sided. True, Gazans will be freed from the constant military presence of Israeli troops. However, this redeployment could be reversed at any time Israel chooses. Israel will maintain control of all Palestinian movement in and out of Gaza, continuing the long-standing situation of Gaza as one huge prison, one that will now simply cost Israel less to maintain. In addition, the actions in Gaza are effectively distracting world attention from the continuing construction of the separation barrier in East Jerusalem and the West Bank as well as a range of other Israeli policies detrimental to all Palestinians."

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