Jerusalem — Israel has proposed leaving a Gaza settlement intact to be used as a hospital after an Israeli pullout, and wants to sell an industrial zone on the edge of the coastal strip to international bodies, Israeli officials said.
Israel and the World Bank concluded a round of discussions about the planned pullout on Sunday, the officials said on condition of anonymity.
Israel told World Bank officials it wants to destroy the houses in all Israeli settlements in Gaza, except one. The bulldozed homes would be replaced by high-rise apartment buildings for Palestinians now living in refugee camps, while the buildings in the remaining settlement, which was not named, would be used as a hospital.
Local World Bank officials could not be reached for comment on Monday.
A diplomat said countries donating aid to Palestinians have asked the bank to explore rehabilitation options for Gaza. He said a final decision on how to rebuild Gaza would be taken by a committee of major donor nations.
Other analysts said they believed the concept of buying settlements or other properties built on war-won land was unlikely to win approval.
Meanwhile, an Israeli helicopter fired a missile toward a car carrying four Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank town of Jenin on Monday, but missed. The missile hit a nearby home, causing no injuries.
The apparent target was Mahmoud Abu Khalifeh, a local leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group with ties to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.
The Al Aqsa group in Jenin has claimed responsibility for an Aug. 11 bombing at an Israeli roadblock in the West Bank in which two Palestinian civilians were killed.
Abu Khalifeh said he was in the car when an explosion went off nearby. ”We jumped out of the car and started firing randomly,” he said. ”We thought that the army was nearby.”
Meanwhile, Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails resumed a hunger strike after a weekend break. The fast began two weeks ago. The prisoners have presented a list of demands to improve their conditions, but the main thrust of the strike is a political blow against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Issa Karake, head of Palestinian prisoners' association, said inmates in Ashkelon jail, who suspended their strike on Friday pending the outcome of negotiations with prison authorities, resumed fasting Monday after the talks brought no results.
Mr. Karake said that the participation of the Ashkelon inmates meant that nearly all the 4,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons on security charges were on hunger strike.
The striking prisoners have been drinking liquids, including milk and fruit juice. Israeli officials say many prisoners never began striking, and hundreds of others have ended their fasts.
The strikers have the backing of a grandson of Mohandas Gandhi, the legendary Indian leader, who is currently touring the West Bank and urging Palestinians to adopt non-violent means of resisting Israeli occupation.
On a visit to the Palestinian parliament Sunday, Arun Gandhi told Palestinians that pacifism could be a powerful weapon in the battle for world opinion.
”What would it look like if a group of leaders from Palestine were to lead 50,000 men, women and children in a march,” he said.
”Maybe the Israeli army would shoot and kill several people, they may kill a hundred, they may kill two hundred people and that would shock the world.”
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