HAWTHRON, March 16, 2007 (WAFA) - Australians for Palestine Group said Israel still controls Gaza despite "disengagement".

It said in a press release that When Israel completed its unilateral "disengagement" from Gaza in September 2005, the whole world hailed the architect of the plan, the then Israeli Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon as "courageous", forgetting of course, that he was the same person who had originally promoted the settlement project in Gaza in violation of international law.

As always, it said, everyone was too eager to accept what Israel says instead of looking at what Israel does. Not only was Sharon continuing to illegally build and expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank at a furious rate, but as the settlers were ushered out of Gaza, the Israeli army was already slamming the gates behind them locking in the 1.4 million Palestinian population.

At the same time, the Group said, the Israeli government announced that it no longer had responsibility for the Palestinians who had lived under Israel's occupation for almost 40 years and that all claims ought to be directed to the Palestinian Authority (PA).

However, Israel never intended to relinquish its control and where once it controlled from within, now it is controlling from without, effectively rendering all of Gaza the largest prison complex in the world. Aside from the frequent incursions and constant air, land and sea armed military surveillance, the most insidious violation that Israel is perpetrating in Gaza is the unpredictable opening and closing of the Rafah Crossing Point - the only remaining access out of, or into, the Gaza Strip - and this has had a devastating effect on the economic, social and cultural life of the Palestinian people.

It said that the Rafah crossing point is situated on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt and is now the only viable access that Palestinians have to the outside world. Erez Crossing from Gaza to Israel is no longer open to the general populace, Gaza's coastline is constantly patrolled by the Israeli military, and Gaza's airport remains unusable since it was destroyed by Israel. Although Palestinian-Israeli supervision was agreed to after the Oslo Agreement in 1993, it soon became clear that Israel had absolute control over the security of the crossing, and under the Cairo Agreement of 1994, Israel was able to continue to refuse passage to those Palestinians who do not permanently live in the Occupied Palestinian Territories causing enormous hardships for families.

A.D (23:50P) (21:50GMT)