Despite Israeli pronouncements to the contrary, the Palestinian street, fueled largely by a Hamas propaganda campaign, has been led to interpret the proposed Israeli withdrawal as a tremendous victory of the suicide bombers. As Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar recently stated, “The withdrawal, if it is implemented, will be an important achievement for the Palestinian people, its intifada and armed struggle, its determination and great sacrifice, and confirms the willingness and correctness and usefulness of employing armed struggle and its ability to attain political objectives.”
The message is clear. Kill enough Israelis and they’ll unilaterally withdraw from the other disputed areas as well.
In recent months the White House has been abuzz over the ideas and political reasoning set out in Natan Sharansky’s best-selling book The Case for Democracy. Sharansky’s timely work has impressed several members of the Bush Administration by its clear-headed ability to capture in prose much of what they themselves would like to communicate to foreign nations and leaders about America’s international agenda, its goals and the methods it will employ to carry them out.
Two weeks ago, however, Sharansky resigned from the Israeli Cabinet, citing his complete opposition to the withdrawal plan and the inevitable danger it poses for Israel and the entire region. In a refreshing display of principle by a politician, Sharansky said that he could no longer support the Sharon government because “I oppose the disengagement plan which is a tragic mistake that will exacerbate the conflict with the Palestinians, increase terrorism, and dim the prospects of forging a genuine peace. . . I also oppose the Gaza Plan because it will weaken the prospects for building a free Palestinian society while at the same time strengthening the forces of terror. . . The guiding principle behind the disengagement plan is based on the illusion that by leaving Gaza, we will leave the problems of Gaza behind us.”
Perhaps the White House and the Sharon government ought listen a little more attentively to what Sharansky is saying about the Gaza withdrawal. He is joined by other prominent voices, such as outgoing Director of Shin Bet Avi Dichter; Chief of Military Intelligence Ari Farkash; Speaker of the Knesset Reuven Rivlin; former chair of foreign affairs and defense Uzi Landau; former defense minister Moshe Arens; former deputy chief of military intelligence Yaacov Amidror; and even Foreign Affairs Minister Silvan Shalom and Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
All those who care about the ability of the Middle East’s only truly democratic nation to defend itself and survive should be alarmed over the desperate plan being implemented by the Sharon government. Gaza and the rest of the PA are only one election away from becoming what Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Shalom described as “Hamastan.” The withdrawal plan will gravely harm Israel’s ability to fight the Iranian-financed terrorist organizations that are swiftly gaining control in the PA and ensure that Israel will once again incur the wrath of world opinion when it – inevitably – has to reenter Gaza. President Bush has repeatedly stated that “we must end all terrorist regimes.” Surely we should not be supporting a plan that will create a new one, under Hamas control, in Gaza.