BYE BYE GAZA - Barry Chamish

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what a huge security fiasco hiring an Arab contractor to build
an IDF base would be. Then we see busloads of Arab
workers leaving the base by bus.
We continue down the road and photograph the massive
buildings and underground digging.
Then we reach the checkpoint at the border of the Green
Line. The base stops precisely there, the border the
Americans have planned for us. We turn into the dirt road to
the left and start following the circumference of the base.
The base is enormous, far huger than any other base in the
country. We estimate that several tens of billions of dollars
are going into the base itself but the new road surrounding
the complex currently being blasted out of the rock has to
add another billion dollars to the pricetag. As for the value of
50 square miles of prime Israeli real estate: more billions.
Neither of us knows what the base will be used for so I
suggest, "Let's go inside and ask someone." We reach the
entrance where two guards are seated. I ask one if we can
speak to someone in charge of the project and photograph
inside. The guards agree to call headquarters and see. One
guard calls, the other points to a path to the right and says,
"Let's see if they'll let you photograph up there. You've never
seen so many computers and cameras in your life."
The base construction manager agrees to talk to us. We are
escorted to his trailer/office where he is sitting with three
other sub-managers. The radio reporter wastes no time
asking, "Are those buildings going to be used to hold
evacuated settlers and protesters?"
The project manager laughs. I agree. That is not the purpose
of this base.
Next question: "What is this base going to be used for?"