THE SHALLOW GRASP OF UNILATERALISM:

Pullout with or without the Palestinians: Israel's Gaza withdrawal is not predicated on the behavior of peace partners (Abraham H. Foxman, 5/22/05, ynet news)

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said recently that if Hamas wins elections in Gaza he did not see how Israel could proceed with its unilateral withdrawal.

Later that day, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was asked by the press what he thought about Shalom's comment. He replied that the disengagement has nothing to do with Palestinian behavior, but rather was in Israel's interest irrespective of what the Palestinians do.

This was a critical explanation by Sharon because so many are forgetting or ignoring the fact that Sharon decided on his proposal more than a year ago not because Israel had a partner for peace but because Israel did not have a partner for peace.

He concluded that Israel was ill-served on many levels - international pressure, ruling over Palestinians, demographics, the growing idea of a one-state solution - by being trapped in Gaza as a result of the reality that there was no partner for peace and hence no peace negotiations.

Hardly surprising that when so many couldn't appreciate the unilateral course that Mr. Bush and Mr. Sharon set out on in the first place they'd not understand it when they keep following it now.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 22, 2005 2:26 PM