There is a horribly undemocratic, terribly biased, very unfair plan unfolding in Samaria, Judea and Gaza (otherwise referred to as "the territories").



The "disengagement" plan being pushed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will, if executed, remove every Jew from Gaza, a place whose Jewish history goes back to the time of King David. In fact, in a speech given to an American Jewish group two months ago, Sharon bragged that by the same time next year, "Not a single Jew will remain in Gaza."



It is no secret that the Palestinian leaders - every one of them - demand that Israel dismantle and evacuate every single Jewish community built since 1967 on lands owned by no one, where not a single soul was dispossessed. Judea and Samaria also have a 3,000-year history of Jewish population. They are insisting on the dispersion and evacuation of 220,000 men, women and children from homes and communities they have lived in for as much as 35 years.



If successful, all those areas will become Judenrein, a German term used to describe Hitler's plan for the Jewish communities of Europe. It means "empty of Jews". The only places on earth, to my knowledge, which are now empty of Jews, include Saudi Arabia, and one or two other oil-rich Muslim nations. Even Iran, Syria, Egypt and Iraq still have a small number of Jews, although hundreds of thousands were driven out when Israel became a state in 1948.



We expect the Muslim Arabs to promote the idea of making large areas Judenrein, but what is frightening is the fact that most of Europe and even the United States support the idea, and speak blithely of removing Jews from lands claimed by the Palestinians.



In Israel itself, one million Arabs live, work and run businesses. They represent 20% of the Israeli population. They are well represented in the Knesset (parliament) and in our courts, including the Supreme Court. There are Arab police, professors and teachers, and municipal employees. My appendix was removed by an Arab surgeon in Hadassah Hospital, in Jerusalem, several years ago. He did an excellent job!



If a million Arabs, most of them Muslims, can live peacefully and productively in Israel proper, why are 200,000 Jews living in Samaria, Judea and Gaza such a threat?



And if those Jews must all leave, why does no one speak of evacuating Arabs from Israel? They don't even have to leave their homes. Their towns and villages can be included in the final borders of the coming state of Palestine, while Jewish communities can be included in the new borders of Israel.



But nobody ever speaks of making Israel Arab-rein. Why is that?



If the world wants to hand the Palestinians a land empty of Jews, there is no reason why Israel should remain home to a million Arab Muslims.



If it's okay to remove Jews from their homes, it must be just as okay to remove Arabs from theirs.



If it's good for the goose, shouldn't it also be just as good for the gander?



Copyright 2005 Mike Levine