Israeli soldiers have started giving Jewish residents in the Gaza Strip orders to leave their communities. This is part of Ariel Sharon’s plan to pull out from Gaza. People have 48 hours to leave voluntarily or be forcibly removed by soldiers and police. Many Jewish settlers are determined to stay put in their homes. Fights have broken out between settlers and the Israeli troops who had protected them for four decades. Other settlers have promised to leave peacefully.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made an announcement on state television. He said the withdrawal of 8,500 settlers from the Gaza Strip was a painful but important step for Israel’s future and security. He said the pullout was because of changing forces in the region and the world. He told Israelis: “We cannot hold Gaza for good. More than a million Palestinians live there, doubling their numbers every generation.” Mr. Sharon said it was now up to the Palestinians to clamp down on militants and stop terror.

WARM-UPS

1. MIDDLE EAST: Talk to many students and find out as much information as you can on the items listed below. After you have finished, talk in pairs / groups about what you found out.

Ariel Sharon Gaza Settlers Mahmoud Abbas

Hamas The 1967 Six-Day War Palestinians The “Roadmap for Peace”

2. SETTLERS: Imagine you are a Gaza settler. You and your family have to leave the community in which you have lived for 30 years. You must leave your house and business. Talk to other “settlers” about the following:

Being evicted Security My lovely home and garden My political leaders

Palestinians A new life in Israel Gaza Other

3. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.

Israel / Israeli troops / Jewish settlers / Gaza Strip / Ariel Sharon / fights / pawns / security / Palestinians / olive branches / militants / terror

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

4. ISRAEL: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with Israel. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

5. GAZA OPINIONS: In pairs / groups, talk about these opinions. Do you agree or disagree with them?

1. Gaza is Palestinian land. It is only right the settlers should leave.
2. The settlers are paying for political mistakes made 30 years ago.
3. Israel leaving Gaza is a victory for suicide bombers and terrorists.
4. Israel must also start preparing to withdraw from all of the West Bank.
5. Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza means terrorists will now focus on the West Bank.
6. East Jerusalem is the real Palestinian capital.
7. Ariel Sharon has shown a lot of courage and vision over the Gaza withdrawal.
8. The peace process will now move forwards at a great speed.

6. QUICK DEBATE: Students A think peace will come quickly in the Middle East. Students B think there will be an increase in terror. Change partners often.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	Israeli soldiers have started telling Gaza settlers to leave.	T / F
b.	Settlers have 48 hours to leave or be forcibly removed by troops.	T / F
c.	No settlers want to stay in Gaza any longer.	T / F
d.	Israeli troops have protected the settlers for nearly 40 years.	T / F
e.	Ariel Sharon said withdrawal would be painless.	T / F
f.	Mr. Sharon said Israel is withdrawing only because of terrorism.	T / F
g.	Palestinians in Gaza are doubling in numbers every generation.	T / F
h.	Mr. Sharon said it was up to the Palestinians to stop terror.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

a.	residents	withdrawal
b.	pull out	scuffles
c.	determined	forever
d.	fights	occupants
e.	promised	national
f.	state	area
g.	pullout	set on
h.	region	vowed
i.	for good	fighters
j.	militants	withdraw

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	orders to	forcibly removed
b.	Ariel Sharon’s plan to pull	in the region and the world
c.	leave voluntarily or be	on state television
d.	Fights have broken out between	leave their communities
e.	settlers have promised to leave	settlers and the Israeli troops
f.	made an announcement	and stop terror
g.	a painful but important step	peacefully
h.	because of changing forces	for Israel’s future and security
i.	doubling their numbers	out from Gaza
j.	clamp down on militants	every generation

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the gaps in the text.

Sharon defends Gaza pullout

Israeli soldiers have started ________ Jewish residents in the Gaza Strip orders to ________ their communities. This is ________ of Ariel Sharon’s plan to ________ out from Gaza. People have 48 hours to leave voluntarily or be ________ removed by soldiers and police. Many Jewish settlers are ________ to stay put in their homes. Fights have broken out between settlers and the Israeli troops who had ________ them for four decades. Other settlers have promised to leave ________.		part peacefully forcibly giving protected pull determined leave
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ________ an announcement on state television. He said the ________ of 8,500 settlers from the Gaza Strip was a ________ but important step for Israel’s future and security. He said the pullout was because of changing ________ in the region and the world. He told Israelis: “We cannot hold Gaza for ________. More than a million Palestinians live there, ________ their numbers every generation.” Mr. Sharon said it was now up to the Palestinians to ________ down on militants and stop ________.		forces withdrawal clamp painful terror made doubling good

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘pull’ and ‘out’.

• Share your findings with your partners.
• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the gap fill. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. STUDENT “GAZA” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about Gaza and the Middle East peace process.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

giving part voluntarily determined broken promised

announcement painful region good doubling militants

DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1. What did you think when you first read this headline?
2. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
3. What do you think about the Gaza pullout?
4. Do you feel sorry for the settlers who have to leave their homes?
5. Do you think settlers in the West Bank should also leave their homes?
6. Ariel Sharon is building more houses for Israelis in the West Bank. What do you think about this?
7. Do you think Israel has a “Gaza first, Gaza last” policy and that the Palestinians will get no more land?
8. Do you think Ariel Sharon is a great leader?
9. Will the Palestinians make an economic success of Gaza?
10. Will militants in Gaza now start attacking the West Bank?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. Do you think a Palestinian state will ever exist peacefully beside Israel?
3. What do you think is the next step in the peace process?
4. Do you think Ariel Sharon owes the settlers an apology?
5. Do you think the pullout is a victory for the terrorists?
6. How would you feel about your country ordering you to leave your home?
7. Should Israel quickly return to all pre-1967 borders?
8. Should Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas receive the Nobel Peace Prize?
9. What do you think the Middle East will be like next year?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What question would you like to ask about this topic?
2. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
3. Was there a question you didn’t like?
4. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
5. What did you like talking about?
6. Do you want to know how anyone else answered the questions?
7. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS: In pairs / groups, discuss your thoughts on the following issues:

1. Israel continuing to build houses for Israelis on the West Bank.
2. The security barrier cutting into Palestinian land and splitting up families.
3. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas promising Palestinian people that East Jerusalem will be next to fall into Palestinian hands.
4. The fact that Hamas has more support than the Palestinian Authority.
5. A “Gaza first, Gaza last” policy.
6. Hamas not accepting Israel’s right to exist.
7. The return to Israel of millions of Palestinian refugees from the 1967 war.
8. The national shock experienced by Israel because of the Gaza pullout.
9. Israel occupying land it won in the 1967 war.
10. The Palestinian Authority being allowed to reopen Gaza’s airport and ports.

Find a new partner / group and talk about what was said in your previous discussions. Was there any agreement on any of the issues?

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Sharon defends Gaza pullout

Israeli soldiers have started giving Jewish _________ in the Gaza Strip orders to leave their _________. This is part of Ariel Sharon’s plan to pull out from Gaza. People have 48 hours to leave voluntarily or be _________ removed by soldiers and police. Many Jewish settlers are _________ to stay put in their homes. Fights have broken out between settlers and the Israeli _________ who had protected them for four _________. Other settlers have promised to leave _________.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made an announcement on _________ television. He said the _________ of 8,500 settlers from the Gaza Strip was a painful but important step for Israel’s future and _________. He said the pullout was because of changing _________ in the region and the world. He told Israelis: “We cannot hold Gaza for good. More than a million Palestinians live there, _________ their numbers every _________.” Mr. Sharon said it was now up to the Palestinians to clamp down on _________ and stop terror.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on the Gaza pullout. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. LETTER: Write a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Tell him / her what you think of the withdrawal from Gaza. Give him advice on what he should do over the next few years to bring peace and security to the Middle East. Read your letters to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all have similar thoughts and advice?

4. DIARY / JOURNAL: Imagine you are a settler in Gaza. You have lived there for 30 years. Your friends, family, business and whole life is in Gaza. Now you must leave everything. Write your diary / journal entry for the day you leave Gaza. Read your entry to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all write about similar things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. T

b. T

c. F

d. T

e. F

f. F

g. T

h. T

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	residents	occupants
b.	pull out	withdraw
c.	determined	set on
d.	fights	scuffles
e.	promised	vowed
f.	state	national
g.	pullout	withdrawal
h.	region	area
i.	for good	forever
j.	militants	fighters

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	orders to	leave their communities
b.	Ariel Sharon’s plan to pull	out from Gaza
c.	leave voluntarily or be	forcibly removed
d.	Fights have broken out between	settlers and the Israeli troops
e.	settlers have promised to leave	peacefully
f.	made an announcement	on state television
g.	a painful but important step	for Israel’s future and security
h.	because of changing forces	in the region and the world
i.	doubling their numbers	every generation
j.	clamp down on militants	and stop terror

GAP FILL:

Sharon defends Gaza pullout

Israeli soldiers have started giving Jewish residents in the Gaza Strip orders to leave their communities. This is part of Ariel Sharon’s plan to pull out from Gaza. People have 48 hours to leave voluntarily or be forcibly removed by soldiers and police. Many Jewish settlers are determined to stay put in their homes. Fights have broken out between settlers and the Israeli troops who had protected them for four decades. Other settlers have promised to leave peacefully.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made an announcement on state television. He said the withdrawal of 8,500 settlers from the Gaza Strip was a painful but important step for Israel’s future and security. He said the pullout was because of changing forces in the region and the world. He told Israelis: “We cannot hold Gaza for good. More than a million Palestinians live there, doubling their numbers every generation.” Mr. Sharon said it was now up to the Palestinians to clamp down on militants and stop terror.

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