Mon Jul 18, 1:11 PM ET
ELEI SINAI, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Jewish settler Avi Farhan, determined not to give up his home overlooking the sea when Israel quits the occupied Gaza Strip, is looking into becoming a Palestinian.
"I have met with Palestinians. I am willing to be a test case for peace and take up Palestinian citizenship," Farhan told Reuters. "It will hurt me to give up my Israeli citizenship, but I want to remain here."
One Palestinian official suggested he might be allowed to stay in overcrowded Gaza -- home to 1.4 million Palestinians -- as long as he obeyed Palestinian laws. Actual citizenship could only be decided on an individual basis and any applicant would have to meet the same conditions as anyone else.
Ordinary Gazans have long viewed the 8,500 settlers in the territory as bitter enemies living on land they want for a state.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to give up all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip as well as four of 120 in the West Bank in what he bills "disengagement" from conflict with the Palestinians. Withdrawals start next month.
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