Reasons Not To Withdraw From Jewish Gaza
* Surrendering the Gush Katif region makes Israel vulnerable to attack from the south and enables free arms-smuggling into Gaza;
* MK Yuval Shteinitz has issued papers indicating that Egypt is approaching a state of active war with Israel;
* Sharon has bypassed his government and Foreign Minister by sending Ehud Olmert to negotiate the plan with the Americans;
* The Arabs view the Israeli towns in the Negev as illegal.
These are just some of the points made in a hard-hitting article by journalist David Bedein in FrontPageMagazine.com.
Bedein writes that the U.S. State Department and even the UN have praised Sharon for his sudden new policy of unilateral retreat, and that Secretary of State Powell has even ordered the dispatching of special teams to jointly coordinate the Israeli pullback from the Jewish communities in Gaza. "However," he continues, "President Bush and Congress should be advised that the Israeli government and the Israeli Knesset have never approved Sharon's sudden change in policy. Israel's Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom expressed surprise that Olmert, whose formal position is the Minister of Trade and Industry and Communications, would usurp his position. Dr. Uzi Landau, the Israeli Government Minister in charge of American-Israeli strategic planning, told me that he was not even informed of Olmert's trip."
In addition, although Sharon promised in the Knesset on Jan. 12 that the unilateral retreat would "be undertaken following exhaustive discussions between the coalition parties," Sharon is showing no signs of intent to bring it for Cabinet debate - and certainly not to the Knesset - before presenting it himself to Bush. It should also be noted that within the Likud, some 15 MKs object to the withdrawal plan.
Bedein further notes that abandoning the Jewish towns in Gush Katif will not gain Israel any points in terms of Arab demands: "From the point of view of the Arabs in Gaza, the 'illegal Israeli settlements' are spread throughout the Negev and the Israeli coastal region, where tens of Arab villages were uprooted following the failed invasion of the nascent Jewish state by the armies of five Arab nations in 1948." Even the U.S. never recognized Israel's acquisitions of land in the 1948 war: "Secretary of State John Foster Dulles made that point when he visited Israel in 1953, and placed the U.S. on the record as opposing Israeli settlement in the 'conquered' Negev and the Galilee regions." This, of course, means that Israel is liable to find itself facing the same demands to "end the occupation" of the Negev as it now faces regarding Gaza.
"The agricultural produce of the 17 farming communities in Katif," Bedein further writes, "successfully competes with the agricultural produce of the hundreds of Israel's collective farms - a factor that has figured into the Israel Labor Party's enthusiastic support for the eradication of their agricultural competitors."
Finally, Bedein writes, "The strategic significance of pulling out of the Katif region is also being missed. Speaking off the record, a senior Israeli military source describes the Katif region as the ideal place for a land invasion of Israel from the south [and] explains that the Katif communities act as a buffer for Israel against Egypt, in case Israel's southern neighbor had second thoughts about its fragile peace treaty with Israel."
MK Dr. Yuval Shteinitz, Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, has issued "a series of declassified intelligence briefing papers in which he claims that Egypt is indeed approaching a state of active war with Israel. Egypt's first step in that war has been to facilitate construction of tunnels at the southern tip of the Gaza strip that are now being used to smuggle arms into the area. Without the presence of Israeli communities in Katif, funneling arms to Palestinians for use against the Israeli army in the event of an invasion will be even greater."
* Surrendering the Gush Katif region makes Israel vulnerable to attack from the south and enables free arms-smuggling into Gaza;
* MK Yuval Shteinitz has issued papers indicating that Egypt is approaching a state of active war with Israel;
* Sharon has bypassed his government and Foreign Minister by sending Ehud Olmert to negotiate the plan with the Americans;
* The Arabs view the Israeli towns in the Negev as illegal.
These are just some of the points made in a hard-hitting article by journalist David Bedein in FrontPageMagazine.com.
Bedein writes that the U.S. State Department and even the UN have praised Sharon for his sudden new policy of unilateral retreat, and that Secretary of State Powell has even ordered the dispatching of special teams to jointly coordinate the Israeli pullback from the Jewish communities in Gaza. "However," he continues, "President Bush and Congress should be advised that the Israeli government and the Israeli Knesset have never approved Sharon's sudden change in policy. Israel's Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom expressed surprise that Olmert, whose formal position is the Minister of Trade and Industry and Communications, would usurp his position. Dr. Uzi Landau, the Israeli Government Minister in charge of American-Israeli strategic planning, told me that he was not even informed of Olmert's trip."
In addition, although Sharon promised in the Knesset on Jan. 12 that the unilateral retreat would "be undertaken following exhaustive discussions between the coalition parties," Sharon is showing no signs of intent to bring it for Cabinet debate - and certainly not to the Knesset - before presenting it himself to Bush. It should also be noted that within the Likud, some 15 MKs object to the withdrawal plan.
Bedein further notes that abandoning the Jewish towns in Gush Katif will not gain Israel any points in terms of Arab demands: "From the point of view of the Arabs in Gaza, the 'illegal Israeli settlements' are spread throughout the Negev and the Israeli coastal region, where tens of Arab villages were uprooted following the failed invasion of the nascent Jewish state by the armies of five Arab nations in 1948." Even the U.S. never recognized Israel's acquisitions of land in the 1948 war: "Secretary of State John Foster Dulles made that point when he visited Israel in 1953, and placed the U.S. on the record as opposing Israeli settlement in the 'conquered' Negev and the Galilee regions." This, of course, means that Israel is liable to find itself facing the same demands to "end the occupation" of the Negev as it now faces regarding Gaza.
"The agricultural produce of the 17 farming communities in Katif," Bedein further writes, "successfully competes with the agricultural produce of the hundreds of Israel's collective farms - a factor that has figured into the Israel Labor Party's enthusiastic support for the eradication of their agricultural competitors."
Finally, Bedein writes, "The strategic significance of pulling out of the Katif region is also being missed. Speaking off the record, a senior Israeli military source describes the Katif region as the ideal place for a land invasion of Israel from the south [and] explains that the Katif communities act as a buffer for Israel against Egypt, in case Israel's southern neighbor had second thoughts about its fragile peace treaty with Israel."
MK Dr. Yuval Shteinitz, Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, has issued "a series of declassified intelligence briefing papers in which he claims that Egypt is indeed approaching a state of active war with Israel. Egypt's first step in that war has been to facilitate construction of tunnels at the southern tip of the Gaza strip that are now being used to smuggle arms into the area. Without the presence of Israeli communities in Katif, funneling arms to Palestinians for use against the Israeli army in the event of an invasion will be even greater."