My Momma, Queen Mollie, used to say, "There are some who are always a little slow." In other words, no matter what the issue, they were going to be a day late and a dollar short, or never have a date for the prom. That is how I feel about the citizens of the Jewish State over the past few years. They are a people who, wanting peace so badly, overlook crucial issues that can often come back and bite them in the tush.



Last week, I watched, with a breaking heart, the all-too-familiar scenes from when I was in Yamit as a journalist, as the Jewish residents of Gaza were forcibly removed from their homes. These repugnant images were suddenly replaced by a "Breaking News" screen, informing me that the United Nations had been exposed in anti-Israeli activity once again. This time, they have been caught donating to terrorist organizations in an underhanded plot aimed at assisting PLO efforts to regain Gaza and continue on to the West Bank. Wow, what a surprise! What, the nine billion dollars over three years wasn't enough?



Hey, the evacuation buses weren't even out of the neighborhood, but there was Dr. Condoleezza Rice at the State Department, giving interviews to the New York Times, saying; "While I feel for evacuated settlers, Israel will be expected to make further concessions that would ultimately lead to an independent Palestinian state. Everyone empathizes with what the Israelis are facing, but... it cannot be Gaza only." Of course not. Our "Good Christian" president and the entire State Department will settle for nothing less than the complete demise of the Jewish State. It seems there is no price too high for the Jews to pay in order to keep the Roadmap to Hell on track.



Because folks, no matter how much is given to them, no matter which country they are in, for the Jihadis, it's never enough. Never. Every concession Israel ever made was answered with more savage terror. At issue in Gaza is not their desire to build their own state so much as their fifty-seven-year quest to destroy the Jewish state. How soon will it be before Jerusalem is chopped up like salami to give the "Palestinians" pieces for peace? Then, "Would you like a little Haifa with that? What about some Tel Aviv thrown in for good measure?"



What ever happened to the US administration's policy of not giving in to terrorists? Why does it hold Israel to a different performance standard than Pakistan, Iraq, Iran the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and all other internationally identified terrorist groups? The USA certainly isn't held to President Bush's stringent standards that you can hold the Israelis' feet to the fire when it comes to terror.



But, hey, our apologist, politically correct crowd and State Department are now big fans of Ariel Sharon, Shimon Peres and company. In fact, Rice called it "really quite a dramatic moment in the history of the Middle East." Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had shown himself to be "enormously courageous," she said. Now, doesn't that give you a warm, huggy feeling?



Ironic, though, how a duplicitous Ariel Sharon, in a magnanimous gesture, gave a press conference and said, "Blame me." Well, of course, I blame him. No previous Israeli government, even that of Ehud Barak, has ever gone so far as to uproot areas that were part of the pre-1945 mandated Palestine. However, I do not only blame Sharon. I blame my Arabist government and our president, who has absolutely no concept of the mentality inherent in the 'evil entity' he is fighting, and continues with suicidal policies meant to appease the Arab world. I blame the lack of leadership in Israel for allowing themselves to be turned into a Banana Republic that, when told to jump, responds, "How high?" I haven't found too many laws of logic in their reasoning, but there sure is a lot of treason.



The breakfast dishes from the settlers' houses in Gaza were barely packed away before the new Arab residents of the Jewish homeland were shooting off their guns and dancing on the rooftops in glee, while raising their PLO flags. Funny, it was not so long ago that the certain, several, radical imams lurking in some London mosques were telling everyone who asked that their groups' aims were "flying the Islamic flag over Downing Street".



Listen, folks, they are trying to tell you something. It might be mixed in with the incoherent, insane, inane ramblings of their radical Islamist ideologies, but if you listen, it is quite clear. Really. They are just quoting their "book", after all. This is a global issue. Repeat the mantra - "Not the Jews' fault." The Islamist world hates everybody. When they finish their jihad against the Saturday people, the Sunday people are in their sights. The Islamic plan to foster a world dominated by Muslims, Islamic law and submission, has already taken root. It could not be more obvious. Yet, our politically correct mentality still can't, or won't, accept it.



Talking about the revelations of UN duplicity again. This is the kind of information that would have been so shocking that once, only a few years ago, you would have scarcely believed it. However, frankly, since the total lack of leadership and loyalty that I've seen dating from Oslo, since Shimon Peres armed the terrorists in the guise of a 70,000 strong PLO 'army', since Barak's proposed giveaway, to this latest disengagement pogrom, expelling Jews out of their lands, nothing surprises me anymore. As for Peres and his self-serving actions, many of which I have considered grounds for treason and prison, I have come to expect nothing less. Much the same as we ho-hum the sight of beheadings from the barbaric cretins. But Sharon? I never would have believed it. Sharon, of all people? That really surprised me.



Today, however, nothing surprises me. What does surprise me is how most people seem to think that it is an Israeli/Palestinian problem and still don't seem to 'get it'. This is only the beginning. Does anyone actually think, in any foreseeable future, the sovereign control the PA regime will now have over the purse strings will change anything? That suddenly, schools, hospitals, homes, etc., are going to miraculously spring up by the actions of the PA? Can anyone believe these people will deplete their secret bank accounts? A bit of spare change coming from Suha Arafat's $22-million-a-year Paris shopping bag? Yeah, right.



It would be lovely to think that this 'test', which caused the withdrawal, will lead to something positive. It is going to be fascinating watching how your tax dollars are going to be spent, along with all those funds pledged by the EU and United Nations to help this advanced society. Watching them handle the task of spending these funds wisely should prove, um, instructive. The road to offshore banks is paved with the last ten years of 'help' to this society.



The only positive I can see in all this is that once the PLO begin to gleefully attack Israelis, having perceived them giving in to terror, Israel will be able to strike back in a way most people have forgotten she is capable of; with overwhelming military power. This time having all the excuses they need to remove the cancer festering in the middle of the country and send them back to their brothers in the 22 surrounding Arab countries. Also, I firmly believe that the Western nations, which have been pushing Israel for so long to leave the land that they won in a defensive war, will regret this stupidity once they realize that this is going to produce a new terrorist state, one fully intending to target people all around the world.



What's done, is done. The only option left to Israel now is to strengthen its army and defensive hold, and hit back tenfold for the next terror attack when it happens - and it will - with stronger power than ever before. Moreover, the "holding back" and concern for world opinion be damned. It might also be a good time to plan the next 'transfer', but this time, not of the Jews out of their land.



The one hope that I am holding out for is the unity issue. I remember a few years ago when I stood on the beach in Tel Aviv, in the middle of an Independence Day display of fighter jets. It was amazing. About a million people were stopped in their tracks all along the beach, from one end to the other, watching with pride as IDF aircraft streaked across the sky in a magnificent display of strength. That, in itself, was an event, but the fact that the crowd was so diverse spoke louder to me. There were the secular, the religious, young soldiers in uniform and girls in bikinis standing on the beach, next to tourists and rabbis with their tzitzit hanging out. The moment was wonderful, truly unforgettable. The best part? That we were all Jews and the bond was strong. The same now. We, in the Diaspora, might be torn in our beliefs over this Disengagement. Was it right? Was it wrong? However, watching the dignity and sorrow of our brothers in Israel, I believe, no matter what private beliefs we may hold, the ties binding us together have only been made stronger.



And, let there be no doubt, we, and the entire free world, will be paying and suffering many years of terror to come as a result of the unprecedented motivation that this has given the terrorists. Their demented minds see this as a victory and proof positive that terrorism pays. Especially in the Palestinian Authority, but also everywhere the withdrawal has been seen.