Anyone who doubted the staying power of the Jewish communities in Gaza can rest a little easier after this morning’s press conference by Yonatan Bassi, head of the Israeli Government’s Disengagement Authority (which is responsible for overseeing the removal of Gaza’s Jews).

Despite months of effort, and despite offering cash bonuses and other benefits, Bassi had preciously little to show for himself today. All told, just 25 families (out of some 8,200 people) have agreed to leave – or a mere 1%.

Even with the continuing bombardment of their communities – both by Palestinian Kassam rockets and a largely-hostile Israeli media – a full 99% of the Jews in Gaza are standing strong, refusing to be cowed into leaving their homes.

Some may view them as fanatics, others as an obstacle to making progress with the Palestinians. But as far as I am concerned, these people are true Jewish heroes, demonstrating a level of faith and fidelity to the Land and people of Israel that is both admirable and worthy of emulation.

Rather than trying to uproot them, the government should instead learn a thing or two from them - from their commitment to principle and from their tenacity and love for this blessed Land.

There numbers may be small, perhaps even tiny. But their voices are beginning to be heard, and it is time that Israel and the Jewish people do more to reach out to them.

I am referring to the budding new movement of Arabs who support Israel. I know that at first glance you’ll think I am fantasizing, and perhaps the word “movement” is not yet truly applicable here, since we are talking about a handful of brave individuals who have stood up and made their views known.

But despite the cultural barriers, the ideological pressures and even the hate mail that they receive, there are a growing number of Arabs and Muslims speaking out against the anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism so prevalent throughout the Islamic world.

In today’s Jerusalem Post, I wrote a news article about one such figure: Nonie Darwish, who grew up in Gaza learning to hate Jews, but who now speaks out across the United States against Islamic fundamentalism and in favor of support for Israel. She has even launched a website which is well worth visiting and publicizing.

Another brave soul speaking out is Walid Shoebat, a former Palestinian terrorist who is now a ‘Christian Zionist’. Shoebat has addressed numerous Jewish and Christian organizations, and has spoken out against the establishment of a Palestinian state. "The occupation is not Israel occupying the land which supposedly belongs to the Arabs," he says. "The true occupation is of the minds of Palestinians, of teaching them hatred for Jews. That is the real occupation." Mr. Shoebat also has a website that is both eye-opening and intriguing.

Of course, we shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking that the level of hate for Jews and their state throughout the Muslim world is in any way diminishing, and this is something we must stand on guard against with all of our might.

Nonetheless, it is refreshing, and even encouraging to see that even the formerly impenetrable wall of Arab hostility towards Israel is at last beginning to develop some fissures and cracks from within.

With the dismissal yesterday of the ministers in his government from the Shinui party, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon now finds himself running out of options.

His coalition government now formally consists of just one party – the Likud – which has 40 out of the 120 seats in parliament. If he is to avoid new elections, Sharon must move quickly to build a coalition – but his options are extremely limited, to say the least.

Basically, he must try to win back Labor, whose 21 members would give him a numerical majority in the Knesset, but a lot of headaches as well. The Likud Central Committee is already on record – having voted several months ago on the subject – as being against a unity government with the party headed by Shimon Peres. Sharon’s only chance of forming such a union lies in enticing two Haredi parties – United Torah Judaism (UTJ; has 5 seats in the current Knesset) and Shas (10 seats) – to join him. That, it is believed, would make it easier for Likudniks to “swallow” another round of dirty dancing with Labor.

But even such a scenario won’t prove so simple – both UTJ and Shas have already voted against Sharon’s withdrawal plan from Gaza. Hence, the true irony here is as follows: Sharon must convince the Likudniks, most of whom oppose the Gaza retreat, to allow him to bring in Labor so that he can move forward with the very withdrawal they are against.

And, simultaneously, Sharon must persuade Labor to embrace the Haredi parties, who have opposed withdrawal, in order so that he can carry it out.

From a political perspective – the task facing Sharon is immense, as well as intriguing. But that is beside the point.

Those of us who voted Sharon into office did so precisely because we did not want Labor to be in power. If Sharon moves forward with a unity government, it will be in defiance of the mandate he received from the people. And that is hardly a good example of how democracy is truly supposed to work.

In its coverage of the interviews given to Newsweek magazine this week by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Abu Mazen, the media – as usual – focused on the unimportant while ignoring the real story.

There was a great deal of fanfare about the fact that both Sharon and Abu Mazen said they would be willing to meet each other, with foreign and local media outlets trumpeting this as some sort of potential breakthrough.

And yet, if you take even a casual look at the text of the two interviews, you will quickly see that both men speak laconically, and without a great deal of commitment, about the possibility of a meeting, which in any event would only take place some time after the Palestinian elections in January.

Moreover, it is not as if the two have not met before, as Sharon himself points out in his remarks, so the fuss being made over this seems to be driven more by the media’s desire to encourage the peace process rather than to objectively report the facts (which is, of course, what it is supposed to be doing).

But amid all the headlines, what the media did not point out was perhaps the most revealing statement of all – Abu Mazen’s brief description of how he plans to deal with terror groups such as Hamas:

“We fought Hamas in 1996. Now things have changed. We have to deal with them delicately. We have to ask them to stop everything—to have law and order.”

Firstly, the prospective Palestinian president is playing fast and loose with the truth in suggesting that the Palestinian Authority “fought” Hamas in 1996 – it was, after all, the wave of Hamas suicide bombings in February-March of that year, and the PA’s failure to crack down, that helped unseat Shimon Peres in the '96 elections.

More importantly, however, is that Abu Mazen now speaks as if Hamas is little more than a mischievous child caught talking during the middle of class, rather than a ruthless bunch of terrorists. Note the language which he uses: “we have to deal with them delicately” (wouldn’t want to hurt their feelings, after all) and “we have to ask them to stop” (don’t forget to smile and say please…).

What this shows, rather clearly, is that Abu Mazen has no intention of combating terror, or of taking the steps necessary to eliminate attacks against Israel. These, of course, would include measures such as outlawing militant organizations, shutting down terrorist training camps and recruitment centers, cutting off the flow of funds to terrorists and disarming and disbanding militant cells and groups.

So don’t expect too much from the upcoming Palestinian balloting – other than a lot more smoke from the media. Abu Mazen is not the Messiah which reporters and others would like us to believe.

Here’s a nice item that we can all learn something from.

It seems that the United Arab Emirates (UAE), an Arab nation in the Persian Gulf region, has been a little short on rain of late, which in the Middle East can be a special cause for worry. So, according to a report in the Emirates News Agency, carried by the Khaleej Times, the UAE President Sheikh Khalifa has “urged Muslims in the country to hold prayers for rain across the country” today.

There is something refreshing about the fact that the leader of a nation has no qualms about calling on his people in a time of difficulty to turn to the heavens in prayer. Granted, the UAE is not a democracy, so it is not as if the Sheikh has to really take into account what his people might truly think of him. Nevertheless, the very act of calling on the public to pray for help on a specific issue is in and of itself an admission of human frailty and of our dependence upon the Creator.

If only our own political leadership in Israel would demonstrate a similar level of humility… things, I am sure, would look a whole lot different.