A strange phenomenon has been taking place over the past few years. Israel has been carrying out a systematic plan to try and separate Gaza from the West Bank. Little attention has been given to this effort separating people - and a country - using administrative measures. This phenomenon began in the late 1980s with the launch of the Palestinian intifada, was accelerated in the beginning of the second intifada in 2000, and has been accelerated even more since the unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, causing a critical human and economic crisis. Gaza, the West Bank, as well as Israel were part of historic Palestine. In 1948, with the creation of the State of Israel, they were abruptly divided. The Egyptian authorities were left to administer the Gaza Strip, whose population had been doubled as a result of the Nakba, sending Palestinian refugees from the southern towns of Palestine to Gaza. On the other hand, the West Bank was held by Transjordan. In April 1949, Transjordan became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and one year later, in 1950, the West Bank became constitutionally an integral part of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. While Egypt didn't confer citizenship on the Palestinians of Gaza, West Bankers became Jordanian citizens. All this changed after the June 1967 war. In an ironic twist of history, these two sectors of Palestine were reunited, albeit under Israeli occupation. Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank were able to travel freely back and forth even though this meant going through the pre-'67 Israeli territory. And since all were part of a single economic area, the movement of people and goods went on uninterrupted for tens of years. Palestinians from Nablus or Hebron married and started families with fellow Palestinians from Gaza or Rafah. Students from Khan Yunis or Deir El-Balah attended universities in Bir Zeit or Al-Najah. Businesses in Ramallah or Hebron distributed their dairy products, stone, or toilet paper to the Gaza marke

suggestions of how much money to bring? Further while in NC we're shopping for living rm. furniture any suggestions on how much to bring or the best places? We're headed to High Point. Note: family of 5 for the trip

Every time I go home (I'm exaggerating to make a point) my house looks different. The sofa moved, the key are hung in a different place, my clothes moved into another closet, the dining room is facing the opposite way, the stereo system has been re-located, the carpets seem to float around. Am I married to a wanna be decorater or is this a universal female trait? What's your expereince? Why do women do this?

I'm trying to pimp up my living room. My living room is nice but quite basic at the moment. I'm looking for suggestions on making it ultra trendy. On my list so far are - 50" wall mounted panasonic plasma - bose home theatre system with wall mounted speakers - squeezebox for streaming music - black leather couch - Wii and XBox media center Do you have suggestions on anything such as other gadgets, lighting, furniture for consoles, DVD players etc, universal remotes The one think I'm not happy with the Bose home theatre system is that while it the surround sound system sounds great with DVD's , its not so good with regular CD's. Would you suggest getting separate speakers for playing CD's? If so, which ones. Suggestions, links to pics an comments appreciated. Thanks!!