In August 2005, UN special envoy to oversee Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza (see Gaza Disengagement), James Wolfensohn, arranged for the purchase and transfer of about 1,000 greenhouses from Jewish Israeli settler ownership to the Palestinian Authority. Wolfensohn, a former World Bank president, offered $500,000 of his own money for the deal, while a consortium of wealthy Americans covered the remaining $13.5 million. Expected to be a key factor in Gaza’s recovery after Israel’s disengagement in August 2005, the greenhouses were looted by Gazans immediately after the Israeli army left, leaving many of them unusable or in need of expensive repairs. The hi-tech greenhouses, which grew spices, flowers and vegetables primarily for export, had employed approximately 3,500 Gazans during the Israeli occupation. See Myre, Greg Myre “US Donors to Pay Departing Jews for Gaza Greenhouses.”  The New York Times. 13 August 2005. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/13/international/middleeast/13mideast.html; and Mitnick, Joshua. “Troubled Season for Gaza’s Greenhouses.” The Christian Science Monitor. 25 October 2005. http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1025/p04s01-wome.html.  http://www.justvision.org/glossary/wolfensohn-deal