More than two months after Prime Minister Sharon first announced his plan to unilaterally withdraw from Gaza, Maariv reports its details today. The main points: All of the Jewish residents in Gaza are to be expelled, except those living in the three northern communities; another 15-20 communities in Judea and Samaria will be destroyed, if certain conditions are fulfilled; and the Philadelphi route along the Sinai-Gaza border will remain under Israeli control and will even be expanded.
Maariv's report was based on a document drawn up, at Prime Minister Sharon's request, by National Security Advisor Giora Eiland, with recommendations for the implementation of the disengagement plan. Sharon first outlined what he saw as the goals of the plan, including the following:
* a long-term improvement of the security situation
* prevention of a split in the nation
* enlisting of international support
* maintaining the PA's obligation to fulfill its Road Map obligations
* causing the PA leadership to feel that it had lost something by not reaching an agreement
* reduction of the impression that Israel had retreated under fire
* reasonable long-term economic cost
* and more.
Regarding Gaza, the Eiland team recommended leaving only the towns of Nisanit, Dugit, and Elei Sinai, which are territorially adjacent to the Ashkelon-Yad Mordechai area. No IDF forces are to remain in Gaza - except for the Philadelphi route - and the homes in the Jewish towns should not be destroyed. The Philadelphi route is the Israeli-Egyptian border, running south from the Mediterranean Sea through the city of Rafiach, where the terrorists dig their arms-smuggling tunnels; Eiland recommends that this area be retained by Israel and even expanded. The report takes into account that strong and possibly violent opposition should be expected on the part of the "settlers."
The Eiland report lists the dangers to result from the implementation of the withdrawal:
* escalation of terrorism as a result of increased terrorist motivation
* the destabilization of the PA leadership - which, the report notes, could also be an advantage
* a takeover of Gaza by Hamas
* improved Kassam rocket capabilities
* a humanitarian crisis in the PA areas, into which Israel could be dragged
* harm to Israeli intelligence-gathering capabilities.
The report recommends taking the "large but not complete" step of uprooting 15-20 more communities in order to create the possibility of an independent PA state, though not yet a final-status arrangement. This can be accomplished, according to the Eiland report, only if the Americans and the international community agree to the following:
a) that such a move is sufficient to create the possibility of a PA state, and
b) to demand of the PA leadership that it fight terrorism.
A withdrawal from most of Yesha and the destruction of the communities there - what the report calls the "complete move" - is possible only if the Americans agree that this will create Israel's final and recognized borders.
As noted, the recommendation is to "present the Americans with the 'large but not complete' alternative as the goal, and to conduct negotiations to achieve formal international support for this move, with a commitment that there will be no further diplomatic demands on Israel until the PA state to be established implements the first stage of the Bush vision and the Road Map."
Possibly most important are the unanswered questions, some of which are listed towards the end of the report. These include:
* With whom do we talk in Gaza, and about what?
* What about the PA airport and seaport in Gaza [that Israel has long believed will be used to bring in hoards of weapons]?
* How will the plan affect Israeli-Arabs [and their suspected dual loyalties]?
* How will Arabs get from Gaza to Judea/Samaria?
* What of the tens of thousands of Gazan Arabs who work in Israel?
Likud MK Gideon Saar, coalition whip in the Knesset, said today that if the withdrawal plan from Gaza is in fact the way it looks from the Maariv report - he will object to it. He told Arutz-7 that he is against a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, and objects as well to a "significant evacuation" of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. Regarding reports of U.S.-ordered changes in the route of the counter-terrorism partition fence - changes that would bring it closer to the Green Line - Saar said that he and his Likud colleagues would insist that the fence be built only along the route on which the Cabinet decided last summer.
Maariv's report was based on a document drawn up, at Prime Minister Sharon's request, by National Security Advisor Giora Eiland, with recommendations for the implementation of the disengagement plan. Sharon first outlined what he saw as the goals of the plan, including the following:
* a long-term improvement of the security situation
* prevention of a split in the nation
* enlisting of international support
* maintaining the PA's obligation to fulfill its Road Map obligations
* causing the PA leadership to feel that it had lost something by not reaching an agreement
* reduction of the impression that Israel had retreated under fire
* reasonable long-term economic cost
* and more.
Regarding Gaza, the Eiland team recommended leaving only the towns of Nisanit, Dugit, and Elei Sinai, which are territorially adjacent to the Ashkelon-Yad Mordechai area. No IDF forces are to remain in Gaza - except for the Philadelphi route - and the homes in the Jewish towns should not be destroyed. The Philadelphi route is the Israeli-Egyptian border, running south from the Mediterranean Sea through the city of Rafiach, where the terrorists dig their arms-smuggling tunnels; Eiland recommends that this area be retained by Israel and even expanded. The report takes into account that strong and possibly violent opposition should be expected on the part of the "settlers."
The Eiland report lists the dangers to result from the implementation of the withdrawal:
* escalation of terrorism as a result of increased terrorist motivation
* the destabilization of the PA leadership - which, the report notes, could also be an advantage
* a takeover of Gaza by Hamas
* improved Kassam rocket capabilities
* a humanitarian crisis in the PA areas, into which Israel could be dragged
* harm to Israeli intelligence-gathering capabilities.
The report recommends taking the "large but not complete" step of uprooting 15-20 more communities in order to create the possibility of an independent PA state, though not yet a final-status arrangement. This can be accomplished, according to the Eiland report, only if the Americans and the international community agree to the following:
a) that such a move is sufficient to create the possibility of a PA state, and
b) to demand of the PA leadership that it fight terrorism.
A withdrawal from most of Yesha and the destruction of the communities there - what the report calls the "complete move" - is possible only if the Americans agree that this will create Israel's final and recognized borders.
As noted, the recommendation is to "present the Americans with the 'large but not complete' alternative as the goal, and to conduct negotiations to achieve formal international support for this move, with a commitment that there will be no further diplomatic demands on Israel until the PA state to be established implements the first stage of the Bush vision and the Road Map."
Possibly most important are the unanswered questions, some of which are listed towards the end of the report. These include:
* With whom do we talk in Gaza, and about what?
* What about the PA airport and seaport in Gaza [that Israel has long believed will be used to bring in hoards of weapons]?
* How will the plan affect Israeli-Arabs [and their suspected dual loyalties]?
* How will Arabs get from Gaza to Judea/Samaria?
* What of the tens of thousands of Gazan Arabs who work in Israel?
Likud MK Gideon Saar, coalition whip in the Knesset, said today that if the withdrawal plan from Gaza is in fact the way it looks from the Maariv report - he will object to it. He told Arutz-7 that he is against a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, and objects as well to a "significant evacuation" of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. Regarding reports of U.S.-ordered changes in the route of the counter-terrorism partition fence - changes that would bring it closer to the Green Line - Saar said that he and his Likud colleagues would insist that the fence be built only along the route on which the Cabinet decided last summer.