Yonatan Bassi,
I understand from a piece on Arutz-7's Hebrew-language website that your main motivation for assuming the role of Evacuation Authority director is the demographic problem. Yet, there need not be a territorial continuity of Jewish settlements in order to maintain democracy.
For example, the United Kingdom is spread over the mainland, Northern Ireland, Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands, and many other places, including British Honduras and various islands in the ocean - all of which do not share territorial continuity. They all vote for the same parliament in London. It is all arbitrary; it is as good logic to join Northern Ireland to the Irish republic as to the UK. In the event, it is the non-territorial continuity alternative that history selected - i.e., Northern Ireland is joined across the water to the UK, as a result of its history.
Similarly, Gush Katif is not within Gaza, it is next to it; like the relationship of many other Jewish areas to many other Arab areas. According to your principle of separating the populations, you will soon have no Israel at all - since there are Arabs everywhere.
In fact, the proximity of Arab settlements to Jewish ones is an asset against the enemy's use of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). In other words, it is an advantage that there are Jews and Arabs living close to one another in Gush Katif and in the northern Shomron, since such proximity serves as a deterrent against the use of such weapons. Furthermore, the more Jews are concentrated geographically, the more dangerous it is. Just this week, the great danger of the Iranians' WMD was emphasized by our National Security Council. This argues for a further territorial spread of the Jewish population, preferably not far from Arab population centers. The move with which you want to collaborate will make it more dangerous for Jews in Israel from this point of view as well.
Also relevant to the issue of democracy and demography is that excessively liberal Israel is anomalous in giving voting rights to Israeli Arabs without asking them to serve in the army. As a counter-example, Jews serving in the German army were asked to possibly kill Jews in the British and French armies during the First World War. They were not exempt, as Israeli Arabs are. And today, Muslim British soldiers are not exempt from serving in the British army in Iraq and possibly killing other Muslims.
Israel need not extend voting rights to all residents of the state. The millions of Turks living today in Germany, for example, have rights as residents only (even second- and third-generation immigrants), but no voting rights on the national level. This, even though Germany and Turkey are not at war. The situation is similar in Switzerland.
A normal situation would be that only those sectors of the Israeli populace that serve in the army have voting rights on the national level. This would disenfranchise, on the national level, Arab Israelis - but Israel would still be a normal democracy, and even more Jewish than it is currently.
I hope you will reconsider your decision.
[These points are also considered in http://www.think-israel.org/shifftan.israelipr.html.]
I understand from a piece on Arutz-7's Hebrew-language website that your main motivation for assuming the role of Evacuation Authority director is the demographic problem. Yet, there need not be a territorial continuity of Jewish settlements in order to maintain democracy.
For example, the United Kingdom is spread over the mainland, Northern Ireland, Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands, and many other places, including British Honduras and various islands in the ocean - all of which do not share territorial continuity. They all vote for the same parliament in London. It is all arbitrary; it is as good logic to join Northern Ireland to the Irish republic as to the UK. In the event, it is the non-territorial continuity alternative that history selected - i.e., Northern Ireland is joined across the water to the UK, as a result of its history.
Similarly, Gush Katif is not within Gaza, it is next to it; like the relationship of many other Jewish areas to many other Arab areas. According to your principle of separating the populations, you will soon have no Israel at all - since there are Arabs everywhere.
In fact, the proximity of Arab settlements to Jewish ones is an asset against the enemy's use of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). In other words, it is an advantage that there are Jews and Arabs living close to one another in Gush Katif and in the northern Shomron, since such proximity serves as a deterrent against the use of such weapons. Furthermore, the more Jews are concentrated geographically, the more dangerous it is. Just this week, the great danger of the Iranians' WMD was emphasized by our National Security Council. This argues for a further territorial spread of the Jewish population, preferably not far from Arab population centers. The move with which you want to collaborate will make it more dangerous for Jews in Israel from this point of view as well.
Also relevant to the issue of democracy and demography is that excessively liberal Israel is anomalous in giving voting rights to Israeli Arabs without asking them to serve in the army. As a counter-example, Jews serving in the German army were asked to possibly kill Jews in the British and French armies during the First World War. They were not exempt, as Israeli Arabs are. And today, Muslim British soldiers are not exempt from serving in the British army in Iraq and possibly killing other Muslims.
Israel need not extend voting rights to all residents of the state. The millions of Turks living today in Germany, for example, have rights as residents only (even second- and third-generation immigrants), but no voting rights on the national level. This, even though Germany and Turkey are not at war. The situation is similar in Switzerland.
A normal situation would be that only those sectors of the Israeli populace that serve in the army have voting rights on the national level. This would disenfranchise, on the national level, Arab Israelis - but Israel would still be a normal democracy, and even more Jewish than it is currently.
I hope you will reconsider your decision.
[These points are also considered in http://www.think-israel.org/shifftan.israelipr.html.]