Mr. Sharon's Resolve

[Caleb]

Mr. Sharon's Resolve
Washington Post
August 18, 2005

THE CHAOTIC scenes of Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip scuffling with Israeli soldiers -- jeering and spitting at them, calling them Nazis, pelting them with eggs and blocking their approach with burning piles of trash and tires -- must be agonizing for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the Israeli army. After all, Mr. Sharon, whom some hysterical settlers liken to Hitler for his decision to evict them from Gaza, is the same leader whose strategic and ideological vision once made him the settlers' champion and the political godfather of their movement to implant Jewish communities on land captured from the Arabs in 1967. And the Israeli army is the same force whose dangerous, costly presence in Gaza has protected these settlers and guaranteed their livelihoods for decades.

Under those trying circumstances, both Mr. Sharon and the army have acted thus far with exemplary conviction and restraint in carrying out the eviction. Despite several thousand settlers who are refusing to leave their Gaza homes voluntarily, and a few thousand more Israelis who have entered Gaza to help them defy the troops, the evacuation is proceeding deliberately and professionally. Mr. Sharon, for his part, has struck a resolute tone that has left no doubt about either the difficulty of his decision or his determination in carrying it out.

"It is no secret that, like many others, I had believed and hoped we could forever hold on to Netzarim and Kfar Darom," two of the Gaza settlements being evacuated, he said in an address to the nation. "But the changing reality in the country, in the region and the world, required of me a reassessment and change of positions. We cannot hold on to Gaza forever."

What Mr. Sharon calls his "unilateral disengagement plan" will advance the chances of peace only if Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reciprocates by disarming and bringing to heel groups such as Hamas, which are responsible for many terrorist attacks on Israel. And it will bear fruit only if the Israeli leader stands ready for further negotiations toward the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state. Mr. Sharon and his advisers have given mixed signals on that theme, and on the prospect of further territorial concessions in return for Palestinian steps toward peace. By telling Israelis the other day that the withdrawal from Gaza "will allow us to look inward" at domestic social and economic problems, he did little to reassure Palestinians and the world that he intends to pursue a durable solution to the Mideast's most intractable conflict.

Full article

[H5N1]

1. Let no one be fooled by Sharon. He steals all that he can steal.

Uri Avnery recently wrote this:

"However, behind all these motives there stand, more importantly, the personality and world-view of Sharon himself.
More than once it has been said that he is a megalomaniac, a man of brute force, a man who despises everybody, a man who steamrolls over any opposition. All this is true, but there is more to it than that.
...
Sharon's is a classic Zionist ideology, consistent and pragmatic: to enlarge the borders of the Jewish State as much as possible, in a continuing process, without including in it a non-Jewish population. To settle everywhere possible, using every possible trick. To do much and talk little about it. To make declarations about the desire for peace, but not to make a peace that would hinder expansion and settlement.
...
That is also Sharon's outlook. He wants to expand Israel's borders as much as possible, and minimize the number of Arabs within them. Therefore it makes sense to him to give up the tiny Gaza strip with the million and half Palestinians living there, and also the centers of Palestinian population in the West Bank. He wants to annex the settlement blocs and the sparsely populated areas, where new settlement blocs can be set up. He is content to leave to future generations the problem of the Palestinian enclaves.

Ben-Gurion laid down a basic principle: the State of Israel has no borders. Borders freeze the existing situation, and to this Israel cannot agree. Therefore, all his successors, including Yitzhak Rabin, were ready to reach interim agreements, but never a final agreement that would fix permanent borders. That's why Sharon insists that all his steps are unilateral, and that, after the disengagement, new interim agreements may be reached - but under no circumstances a final peace agreement."

Sharon offers nothing while he steals all that he can steal!

[Caleb]

2. Actions speak louder than your anti-Israel propaganda

And Sharon is getting Israel out of Gaza. A huge first step to ending the occupation and an action that required nothing from the Palestinians.

[newyorican]

4. Dismantling colonies...

does not equate to "getting out of".

Not while the IDF will control the borders, airspace, coastline and all trade coming in and leaving Gaza.

In the meantime, how many uprooted colonists from Gaza are going to other illegal colonies in the West Bank? Hint: The answer is numerical.

[Coastie for Truth]

3. Genesis XXXVIII 7-10

Don't matter if its mental or physical, virtual or real ...

[Violet_Crumble]

5. Deuteronomy 22, bit 12 right back at ya!

Yay, verily. Or ye shall look like a right dork! Stay tuned for more biblical fashion tips. Aymen!

Violet...

[Coastie for Truth]

6. So now you have a problem with the Mitzvot

of Tsitzes and Tallisim.

What's next on your hit list - Tefillah?

[Violet_Crumble]

9. Problem with the what??

Coastie, I've got no idea what the T's are nor what they have to do with my biblical fashion tips. And more importantly, I've got no idea why you think Uri Avnery refused to impregnate his brother's wife...

Violet...

[SOS]

7. Uri Avnery

refused to impregnate his brother's wife?
If this is true, shouldn't he be dead by now?

[barb162]

8. Better not to be fooled by Hamas and Islamic Jihad n/t