It doesn't look too good. Here's a little vignette the NYT's James Bennet offers at the end of his piece:
The Palestinian Authority says that roughly 5 percent of the settlement land will revert to the original Palestinian owners. The rest, it says, was originally state land and will be put to a variety of purposes, including housing, industry and farming. Many Palestinians have expressed concern that a few powerful men or companies will benefit unfairly....
On Monday morning, in what seemed a signal to reassure Palestinians about how it will approach the settlements, the Palestinian Authority demolished some structures illegally built on public land north of Gaza City. A yellow bulldozer and workers destroyed a cabana and pool belonging to one senior member of the Palestinian security services and a villa belonging to another.
"This house is built on public land," said Tawfik Abu Khousa, an Interior Ministry spokesman. "It's not the right of any individual to take it."
Muhammad Afana, the brother of the owner of the villa, Khader Afana, said, "It's government land, but we bought it from someone, and we did the deal through a lawyer." He said his brother expected compensation.
A man from a nearby house was asked what his neighbors had been like. "They were criminals," he said angrily. "They were a gang." Another man began shouting at him, then ran to summon members of the security services standing by the destroyed cabana.
With semiautomatic rifles and three-foot batons slung over their shoulders, several security officers approached the man from the nearby house. With shouts, one of them struck him against the head with an open hand, then pointed his semiautomatic rifle at him and cocked it. The officer then drew his baton, raised it above his head and began beating the man, as another officer used his own baton to beat onlookers.
The man eventually escaped into his house.
Things don't seem much different from when I wrote about increasing lawlessness in the West Bank and Gaza two years ago. The Atlantic also has a piece detailing how Arafat "destroyed Palestine." I get the feeling it's a bit overwrought--but still useful, even eye-opening.
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