Prime Minister Sharon is meeting with his Cabinet ministers in an attempt to garner support for his plan to retreat from Israel's Gaza Strip in exchange for nothing from the Palestinian Authority. He met this morning with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who has expressed opposition to the plan.
The Arabs of the PA, who have been claiming for over ten years that they wish a state side-by-side with Israel, reject the plan. They say that the withdrawal is only partial, and is even likely to involve Israeli annexation of other areas in Judea and Samaria. The latter claim is backed up by reports that Trade Minister Ehud Olmert, who discussed the plan with US Administration officials last week, is asking American approval for a plan to "strengthen" Jewish settlement blocs such as Maaleh Adumim, Gush Etzion and Ariel.
Deputy Religious Affairs Minister Yitzchak Levy, of the National Religious Party, says that his party should quit the government - but must do so with the right timing, in coordination with the National Union.
Morton A. Klein, President of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), writes that an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza would have negative ramifications not only for Israel, but also for the international struggle against terrorism. "After three years of non-stop Palestinian Arab terrorism," Klein explains, "in which nearly 1,000 Israelis, and 41 Americans, have been murdered - to unconditionally give Gaza to the Palestinian Arabs and expel the 8,000 Jewish residents would be to reward the terrorists... An Israeli withdrawal would whet the appetites of terrorists everywhere. Correctly viewing an Israeli retreat as surrender and appeasement, terrorists in the Middle East and beyond would be strengthened and emboldened by their feeling of victory."
Klein also explains that such a retreat would "pave the way for the creation of a dangerous Palestinian Arab state that will further endanger Israel; and it will establish a precedent for the mass expulsion of Jews from their homes for no other reason than that they are Jews."
The Arabs of the PA, who have been claiming for over ten years that they wish a state side-by-side with Israel, reject the plan. They say that the withdrawal is only partial, and is even likely to involve Israeli annexation of other areas in Judea and Samaria. The latter claim is backed up by reports that Trade Minister Ehud Olmert, who discussed the plan with US Administration officials last week, is asking American approval for a plan to "strengthen" Jewish settlement blocs such as Maaleh Adumim, Gush Etzion and Ariel.
Deputy Religious Affairs Minister Yitzchak Levy, of the National Religious Party, says that his party should quit the government - but must do so with the right timing, in coordination with the National Union.
Morton A. Klein, President of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), writes that an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza would have negative ramifications not only for Israel, but also for the international struggle against terrorism. "After three years of non-stop Palestinian Arab terrorism," Klein explains, "in which nearly 1,000 Israelis, and 41 Americans, have been murdered - to unconditionally give Gaza to the Palestinian Arabs and expel the 8,000 Jewish residents would be to reward the terrorists... An Israeli withdrawal would whet the appetites of terrorists everywhere. Correctly viewing an Israeli retreat as surrender and appeasement, terrorists in the Middle East and beyond would be strengthened and emboldened by their feeling of victory."
Klein also explains that such a retreat would "pave the way for the creation of a dangerous Palestinian Arab state that will further endanger Israel; and it will establish a precedent for the mass expulsion of Jews from their homes for no other reason than that they are Jews."