Posted on 04/11/2005 5:32:07 PM PDT by forty_years
When reading some of the more right-leaning, pro-Israeli pundits, one would be led to believe that Israel is a nation completely divided over Ariel Sharon’s “disengagement plan,” whereby the Jewish state withdraws from Gaza and some of the West Bank in return for Palestinian promises of “peace.” I share the concerns of the anti-disengagement camp, but do not accept the premise of some of their lot that Israel is on the brink of “civil war.”
Just looking at opinion polls of Israelis, one can see that there is momentum for the disengagement plan. The Tel Aviv University Peace Index of January 2005 showed that 59% of Israelis support the plan. A poll taken by the Harry Truman Peace Institute at Hebrew University found that 65% back disengagement. Yehuda Ben Meir of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies (Tel Aviv University) concluded:
The threat of civil war has been mentioned more than once, and government ministers, Knesset members, and public leaders from various circles regularly discuss the need to forestall this possibility. It is therefore important to emphasize from the outset that there is no danger of civil war. In some cases, use of the term "civil war" reflects attempts to frighten and threaten the general public in order to reduce support for the disengagement. In other instances, it reflects demagoguery and even ignorance. Yet there can be no civil war in the true sense of the term without two armed forces, and this means that there can be no civil war without a split in the military. … However, the fact that the disengagement has not positioned Israel on the verge of a civil war does not mitigate the crisis faced by the Greater Israel proponents. Nor does it reduce the seriousness of the ramifications of disengagement, or ease the difficult challenges the plan poses to the state and Israeli society.
So Ben Meir does not brush aside the fact that there is tension in Israel, but tosses the idea of civil war out on its ear. I agree.
In fact, he points out that the “population facing this crisis of consciousness” is the “settlement movement” – those with the most to lose from Ariel Sharon’s plan. I can see why people would not wish to give up their homes, but the settlements carry a high price which other Israelis have to pay.
Do the majority of 6.86 million Israelis want their tax dollars going to build new settlements? Do the majority of Israelis want their sons and daughters defending outposts built in precarious geographic regions surrounded by hostile Palestinians? I doubt it.
Granted, I am living safely in the U.S., but who would want to live in Gaza? I am not parroting the usual drivel that Jewish settlements are a “provocation,” but I am being practical as to the fact that Gaza is an over-populated, Palestinian hornets’ nest. Is the forcible removal of Israeli settlers a thought that I relish? Absolutely not. But in the case of the Gaza settlements, where is the strategic, even tactical, logic for maintaining such a tiny community of Jews – Jews surrounded and very threatened?
Yet I know this is all not so simple. By acting unilaterally with his disengagement plan, Ariel Sharon – who was once champion of the settlement movement – runs the risk of, in effect, rewarding Palestinian terrorists for their despicable ultra-violence. There is no doubt that Hamas, Islamic Jihad, etc., have felt quite justified in their terrorist acts, thinking, “See, we got the Jews out of Gaza just like Hezbollah got them out of southern Lebanon.”
On the other hand, Israel’s settlers were once the core of Sharon’s support. What a paradox for Sharon: Damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.
Sharon needs to push forward with the Gaza pullout. It is just too dangerous a place for young Israelis to be risking their lives defending an island of 8,000 Jewish settlers. But the West Bank settlements are a different story. Israel has a historic right to keep most of its holdings there, e.g., the Tomb of the Patriarchs.
But at the same time, Sharon needs to be ruthless in response to any Palestinian terrorism, e.g., the firing of rockets and mortars into Jewish settlements on Saturday.
The relative calm in the Promised Land is due directly to Israel’s extremely effective targeted killings of Palestinian terrorists, as well as her other security measures. An enemy is defeated when it is utterly and completely defeated. Some Palestinians are starting to grudgingly realize that Israel cannot be destroyed militarily. The “Intifada” has brought Palestinians nothing but physical, economic, and emotional pain – and needlessly wasted the lives of so many innocent Israelis.
Of course, the diehard Palestinian terrorist groups like Hamas are balking at any talk of peace. They will probably never give up their delusions of genocide – that is until they are dead and buried. But I would venture that even some Hamas members have taken pause: They have seen dozens of their brethren swatted like flies by Israeli helicopter gunships.
Eventually it will not matter what groups like Hamas believe. If Palestinians as a whole refuse to clean up their own garbage, then Israel must continue to do it for them – no matter what Abu Mazen says in public speeches. If a terrorist is born every day, then Israel must fire a missile with that terrorist’s name on it. Palestinians will slowly but surely be worn down by Israel’s military, economic, and social might.
Now is not the time for Israeli indecision. But it is certainly not a time when Israelis will fight a civil war.
http://netwmd.com/articles/article965.html
Disengagement: A Tale of Two Israels?
An Edwardesque headline
It is too dangerous to relinquish this territory to acknowleged murderers; who would use it as a springboard to launch attacks on the next nearest target. Young Israelis will be defending their lives on the next "line in the sand" arbitrarily drawn.
If there really were a majority in favor of evicting Jews from entire regions of Israel because of their religion, then Prime Minister Sharon would not have risked civil war (his words) by refusing to hold a referendum.
Obviously, the polls are cooked.
I long for that day when there will be no more blood debt
betweent the seed of Ishmael and Isaac.I pray for the Peace
of Jerusalem. For the temple seen by John. I weary of the
games played by the concubines children.And the blindness of my people who hide behind their false wall separating them from the Allmighty-and form the Law. Once we claimed what is not ours -but we were closer to the Truth.now the shed blood of the innocents defile our land and this nation divided against itself is brought to desolation-yet we are
so determined in our reprobate state-to force that City of David to it's knees by concessions to man and empty promises of Peace. Peace-but there is NO peace.
Some Palestinians are starting to grudgingly realize that Israel cannot be destroyed militarily. The “Intifada” has brought Palestinians nothing but physical, economic, and emotional pain – and needlessly wasted the lives of so many innocent Israelis.
Of course, the diehard Palestinian terrorist groups like Hamas are balking at any talk of peace. They will probably never give up their delusions of genocide – that is until they are dead and buried. But I would venture that even some Hamas members have taken pause: They have seen dozens of their brethren swatted like flies by Israeli helicopter gunships.
Eventually it will not matter what groups like Hamas believe. If Palestinians as a whole refuse to clean up their own garbage, then Israel must continue to do it for them – no matter what Abu Mazen says in public speeches.
Well put.
Some Palestinians are starting to grudgingly realize that Israel cannot be destroyed militarily.
I know some Palestinians, and this is a point I've been making to them for years now. But it's like talking to a wall. Way to many people (all kinds of people) confuse what they want the world to be like with what the world IS.
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