Gaza Withdrawal: Israel's Strategic Blunder

Fire of Liberty

While the MSM heralds Israel's decision to order the pullout of the various Israeli settlements from Gaza as a new chapter in the Middle East peace process, there are a considerable amount of people - I'm included as well - who see this as yet another mistake on Israel's behalf. For one thing, I find it rather baffling that the Israeli settlers who have manned these outposts on Israel's frontier for some thirty plus years are being run out of their own homes and farms thus uprooting the families and digging up the graves of their loved one's to just simply hand the land over to the folks who threaten their daily existence. As with all home owners there is a great sense of pride especially amongst the settlers about their homes and possessions and few are going to leave them without a fuss or some protest. There have even been reports that some settlers have even demonstrated this anger by torching their homes before they progress into Israel. In some ways, I don't blame the Israeli settlers for setting their homes and farms ablaze rather than risk the chance of members of Hamas or other terrorists groups from confiscating the homes and properties they have tolled over for these decades to build and establish. Now, its true that the PA has agreed to dismantle these settlements when the settlers leave but some people aren't taking the chance because the PA sometimes renege on their promises.

Aside from the fact that the Israeli settlers are steaming mad about leaving their homes in Gaza, the further withdrawal into Israel proper is also a big strategic blunder in Israel's War against Islamic terrorists. Probably one of the best arguments I've read so far on the strategic weakness of such a decision is this piece by Joel C. Rosenberg - author of The Ezekiel Option and former aide to Natan Sharansky and Bibi Netanyahu - over at National Review Online. The jist of Rosenberg's thesis is that Israel's outright abandonment of Gaza in return for nothing on behalf of the PA is basically a strategic no-no in the region. I think Rosenberg summed the situation up best when he noted:

First, it is bad tactically. It makes Israel more vulnerable to Palestinian Kassam rockets. And it allows for the creation of "Hamastan" in Gaza. As Netanyahu has been saying publicly for months, radical Islamic cells such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade could very well seize control of the entire Gaza Strip from which they would be able to launch their murderous operations against innocent civilians in Israel and elsewhere.

Second, it is bad diplomatically. It makes Israel more vulnerable to international pressure to give up land for nothing.

Third, it is bad strategically. It teaches the Arab world that terrorism wears the Israelis down and persuades Jews to give up land for nothing, just as was the case five years ago during the withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

But Sharon's unilateral surrender is not only bad for Israel. It is bad for U.S. The Bush administration is aggressively waging a forward-leaning war on terror in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. Great Britain is now newly reenergized in the fight against radical Islam. How then can we possibly countenance the creation of a new terror base camp in the Middle East? It would represent a serious setback to the administration's efforts. What's more, it has nothing to do with President Bush's "Road Map To Peace" wherein Palestinians are required to make tangible, demonstrable concessions and crack down on terror cells, not give them more room to maneuver.

So, the MSM can continue to parade the Gaza pull-out as a good step in the right direction towards peace but they are really off base. No matter how many times Israel gives up land for so called "peace" like in the Siani or Southern Lebanon, the terrorists seem to be more emboldened in their desire to extinguish a beacon of light in the Middle East. Though Ariel Sharon might have been lauded in The New York Times for his decision on Gaza, he has wreaked irrevocable havoc on the security of Israel. I guess it'll take something like the election of Bibi Netanyahu as Israel's next Prime Minister to get Israel back on track. I hope that Israel hasn't reversed from one too many lines in the sand against the forces of terror with such a retreat.