On August 21, 1982, several hundred PLO terrorists, predecessors to today’s Hamas barbarians, were given safe passage and allowed to leave Lebanon. They boarded a ship for Cyprus. On August 30, Yasser Arafat, boarded a ship taking him from Beirut to Tunisia followed by 8,500 PLO terrorists. Another 2,500 PLO terrorists escaped to other Arab states.
These terrorists lived in Tunisia for 12/13 years until the Oslo Accords brought them back to Israel. On July 1, 1994, Arafat returned to Gaza and was triumphantly greeted in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria (aka 'West Bank').
Today, once again, as in Beirut in 1982, Israel’s enemies are on the verge of a catastrophic defeat. Back then, Arafat’s rescue and evacuation was brokered by U.S. envoy Philip Habib, who facilitated an agreement between Israel, Lebanon, and the PLO to allow Arafat and thousands of PLO fighters to relocate to Tunisia, where the organization set up its new headquarters.
Now a repeat performance may be the optimal path forward for Hamas, the USA and Israel. Hamas has repeatedly said that they will not release all of the hostages. Hamas offers maybe 1, maybe 5, maybe 11 hostages in return for thousands of jailed future terrorists. They have made it clear that they will not disarm. They will never release all the hostages. They consistently demand that Israel vacate Gaza and that Gaza be rebuilt. They further demand international guarantees that Israel will never reenter Gaza. Not surprisingly, enemies of Israel and some Arab states publicly support those, unacceptable to Israel, terms.
The question confounding Israel, the US and other well-meaning people around the world is: How will the status of Gaza be resolved? Israel’s current expanded offensive seems intent on totally destroying any vestige of terrorist brigades as well as remaining structures in Gaza. Hamas seems to understand what is finally happening and is either unable or unwilling to offer any substantive resistance.
They now know that their end is drawing near. Rather than facing total obliteration, Hamas, if they have any rationality, should understand, as did Arafat 43 years ago, that accepting safe passage in return for total surrender of the hostages and disarmament is their only escape option. The clear path forward is to enable the leaders of Hamas with their families to be given safe passage “to leave town”. That number is well under 5,000 persons.
Hamas surely has a host of dear friends around the world such as Qatar, Turkey, the Maldives, Colombia or Brazil, several North African or sub-Sahara states, and other Islamic republics, that would be honored to host the Hamas “freedom fighters” in return for generous subsidies.
Israel can now offer a non-negotiable proposal:
RETURN ALL THE HOSTAGES. AND RECEIVE SAFE PASSAGE OUT OF GAZA TO A FRIENDLY HOST COUNTRY.
When the rest of Gaza population, fewer than 1.4 million people, see that the leadership has been allowed to escape unharmed, they will happily accept offers to emigrate to receptive countries. Whether in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, South America, Canada, Mexico. is irrelevant. The opportunity to leave the hellhole of Gaza or the so-called demolition arena, ruled by a despotic Hamas since the violent uprising in 2007, and voted in by Gazans, will be gladly accepted.
Of course, there will be those in the world who will call it ethnic cleansing. But no one will be forced to leave. Only those who voluntarily wish to leave will move on to brighter futures. Those who choose to stay will not be allowed funding by third parties. Neither by Qatar nor Iran. The overwhelming support for Hamas and the October massacre by the alleged "innocent" Gaza population will not be forgotten by Israel.
Can Gaza, once not under Arab control, then become the Riviera of the Middle East? Will investors and visionaries build a magnificent magnet for commerce and tourism? Gaza is at the crossroads of three continents and the opportunities are spectacular.
A generation of well-meaning naive Israeli leaders, such as Shimon Peres, once thought that Arab Gaza would lead the way to a new Middle East if they forced Jews to leave their thriving communities. It is an understatement to say that this did not happen. Israel must learn from its historic multiple visionary Gaza blunders. Tragic misconceptions.
A new generation of Israel leaders will assure that there can never be an “ACCORD” similar to the Oslo Accords. Gaza will never again become a terrorist base!
Dr. Michael Wise - is a founder and investor in numerous technology companies. He is a graduate of YU and holds a PhD .in Theoretical Physics from Brandeis U., is the author of Israel demography study (BESA).and has published numerous articles about Israel sovereignty and demographics in Judea and Samaria. [email protected]