August 7, 2005
ZIONISM WITHOUT ZIONISTS
Sharon reshapes Israel's future (Norma Greenaway, CanWest News Service, August 7th, 2005)
Israel's decision to unilaterally withdraw this month from the Gaza Strip is, for some, a mind-boggling development. How could the Jewish state abandon territory it has clung to so fiercely since capturing it from Egypt in the 1967 war?The answer, according to several Mideast analysts, rests with one man - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the 77-year-old military commander turned politician who, they say, exhibits a strategic brilliance that should not be underestimated.
Sharon has calculated that a comprehensive peace with the Palestinians is impossible, they say, and that dismantling Israeli settlements in the Gaza - the barren strip of land that houses 1.2 million Palestinians and only a few thousand Israelis - is the best route to enhancing the security of Israelis within the tough Mideast neighborhood.
"I do not believe this would be happening without Sharon," said Aaron David Miller, an adviser to six U.S. secretaries of state on Arab-Israeli peace negotiations.[...]
Images of young Palestinians throwing rocks at Israeli patrols became daily television fare around the world. Over the years, and throughout a second intifada that began in 2000, the fighting became more brutal and costly, fuelled by more deadly weapons and tactics on both sides.
Sharon responded with a unilateral plan that Bell says is motivated by the prime minister's realization that, within a very short period of time, the number of Palestinians on the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River will outnumber the number of Jews.
"He came to the realization that the state of Israel could not digest the West Bank and Gaza because of demographics," Bell said.
By getting out of Gaza, there will be 1.5 million fewer Palestinians for which Israel has to assume responsibility, and the demographic pressure on the Jewish state of about six million will ease, Bell said.
For now. Want Zionism? Want security? Want liberal democracy? Better close your eyes and think of Israel.
Posted by Peter Burnet at August 7, 2005 8:13 AMHow long will it be until the global-whining choir bursts into keening about Israel's first response to rocket, mortar, or suicide-surfboard attacks launched from re-Arabized Gaza?
Posted by: Axel Kassel at August 7, 2005 9:53 AMOnce Israel pulls out of the occupied territories, the palestinians will lose the MSMs reported cause for such attacks and much of the political cover they receive from their enablers. On the other hand, the left gripes when we defend ourselves from terrorists so we can hardly expect them to support Israel when they do the same.
Posted by: Patrick H at August 7, 2005 11:24 AM