If current Israeli military commanders fought the Indians in the Wild West, they would have balked at the notion of scrambling behind the fort to protect the soldiers, ranchers and farmers.



After all, when I watched Westerns during the last four years, I gasped when everyone would rush behind the fort as the Indians closed in on them. That's not how the Israelis would do it.



Israel would send the farmers and ranchers back to their individual spreads and deploy squads triple the number of each family to defend their homesteads. If there was time, new farms and ranches would be established as the Indians approached.



That is what Israel has done with the creation of the settlements, especially those in Gaza and isolated sections of the West Bank. Settlement supporters argue that if Israel withdraws from the settlements, the Palestinians will be encouraged to attack Israel proper. According to this viewpoint, one day in the none-too-distant future, Tel Aviv will be under siege.



That may well come to pass, but it does not have to - not if Israel responds appropriately to Arab aggression.



Just because Israel withdraws to more defensible borders does not mean it cannot strike back in an effective manner. If anyone doubts it, it is already happening. Israel just spent 17 days rooting out terrorists in a tank-and-troop offensive that, according to Arab reports, left up to 115 Palestinians dead and possibly 80 homes demolished, not to mention other serious damage to property and infrastructure, plus injuries to many of the inhabitants, in northern Gaza.



This move was the price Palestinians had to pay for rocket attacks from Gaza into the Israeli border town of S'derot, which killed two young children on September 29, the fourth anniversary of the current conflict.



Perhaps all of Gaza and the West Bank belong to the Jewish people. Maybe the Palestinians are automatically entitled to an independent state on the same piece of real estate. Few people argue ideology when they call for pulling out from many of the settlements. Withdrawal is necessary strictly to avert future deaths of civilians and the soldiers deployed to protect them.



Opponents of a pullout would argue that Palestinians will welcome this as a victory for terrorism and feel encouraged to push further. It probably will. They may well plan to attack Israel proper in whatever way they can.



That does not mean they will succeed. Israel can, and in fact must, do whatever the military command deems necessary to defend itself. Israel may need to deploy troops in the territories, bomb enemy lands or even seize control of troublesome segments of the area.



These seem like the most logical methods to curtail or eliminate any aggression. Any attack is an act of war and should be treated as such. The Israelis need to react carefully, so as to be as effective as possible.



The Gaza incursions beg these questions: Why did they take so long? Israeli troops have been discovering tunnels from Egypt into Rafah for the last four years. Terrorists have been firing rockets from northern Gaza into S'derot for the same amount of time. Though there were no deaths until last June, the people of S'derot were nonetheless endangered for four years.



If anything, the Israeli military moved way too slowly in contending with these threats under those particular circumstances. Earlier incursions might have prevented many of the deaths, Palestinians' included.



Withdrawal from the settlements follows a comparable pattern set by construction of the separation barrier. Many Israelis clamored for the barrier to prevent more terrorist attacks, settler supporters opposed it, and the barrier has accomplished exactly what it was intended to do... and more.



Members of the right-wing Likud Party howled that the barrier could establish a permanent border that would eliminate settlements in the West Bank. Instead, the barrier has proven to be a nightmare for the Palestinians.



Of course, the strategic intent for any of these defensive measures is to protect Israel, not to make the lives of Palestinians more miserable. Yet, that is probably exactly what will happen if Israel gets out of the settlement business in Gaza and part of the West Bank.