The Israeli Knesset's decision to unilaterally evacuate and dismantle Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip this coming August has been widely viewed by the press and the international community as an inevitable first step towards peace within the framework of the Middle East peace process. President Bush, patriarch of the sputtering "Road Map," has shown his support for disengagement by hosting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at his ranch in Texas this past April, while European leaders have been more quietly supportive of Israel's plan, as they believe it will foster future peace. Despite the fact that Sharon has generally succeeded in convincing the international community of the soundness of Israel's disengagement plan, he has failed to sway a vocal, dissenting minority in the Knesset, a large segment of the Israeli populace, and the Palestinians themselves, the main benefactors of disengagement. Through its proposed disengagement, Israel is not only giving Gaza away but also appears to be ceding an ideological victory to terrorist organizations and the moral right it claims to possess pertaining to the existence of settlements in the West Bank.
The group that will be benefiting most from the proposed action, the Palestinians, has largely not recognized the evacuation of settlements in Gaza as the olive branch that it appears to be. As Sharon prepares to evacuate the settlements in the Gush Katif bloc with his right hand, he fattens and expands settlements around Greater Jerusalem with his left. Whether or not there is actually an intended deception behind the settlement pullout, many Palestinians view the action as a smoke screen covering other actions, as Israel quietly builds up the larger, more significant settlements in the West Bank.
However, regardless of whether or not the disengagement is viewed as a legitimate step forward for the peace process or something more sinister, the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip surely can be viewed as a Palestinian victory. The Israelis, who fought for so long and invested so much money in Gaza, are now leaving forever at their own expense. Who on the Palestinian side is most responsible for this change in the tide? The most obvious answer is that it is the radicals, the gunmen and the suicide bombers of the second Intifada. It is the shameless terror organizations of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade who will politically gain the most support from the eventual disengagement, which, in the eyes of public opinion, makes the plan less of a withdrawal and more of an Israeli retreat from the intense bombing campaigns and Kassam rocket attacks of the past five years. Therefore, whatever the nature of Sharon's grand design, the withdrawal will be viewed by many radical groups as justification for the use of the ugliest terror tactics to gain political and territorial ground.
Beyond this, by pulling settlements out of Gaza, Israel is inadvertently admitting that there is something inherently wrong with all of the settlements in its occupied territories, specifically in the West Bank. The creation of the settlements in both Gaza and the West Bank started at approximately the same time following the end of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, and in 1993, the regions were politically linked in the Oslo Accords. Therefore, the existence of settlements in Gaza and the West Bank are undeniably linked. For Israel to claim major settlements in the West Bank at any future final status negotiations with the Palestinian Authority would miss the moral point, as the pending withdrawal from Gaza would seem to be the precedent that shows that the land on which existing Israeli settlements are built is not rightfully Israel's. Israel's weakness on settlements in Gaza is an assault on any ideological defense for all of its settlements.
As the existence of a strong Israel is crucial to the stability of the Middle East, it is painful to watch Israel withdraw from an important part of territory while receiving no concessions regarding the disarming of violent terrorist groups in return. Sharon is doing his nation a disservice by giving militants and terrorists an unmitigated prize for their "efforts" during the Second Intifada. The Palestinian people need a homeland, and the settlements rightfully should be dismantled, but the time is not now when the "martyrs" of Hamas are the heroes and champions.
