"Hamas has been doing that all along, this changes nothing. The settlements in Gaza added nothing to Israel's security nor did they give the IDF any leg up on the terrorists...."
_______________________________________________________________
I don't think so, Cosmoline.
Controlling Gaza allowed Israel to deal with arms smuggling to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the rest of them. She could have been a lot more aggressive and efficient at this, but that is Israel's main problem. She gives too much weight to "world opinion" and the "international community". You know, those wonderful folks who treated Jews so well for 1970 years. And then finally the holocaust.
Her current generation have reverted to the "galut" (diaspora) mentality of the Jews in Europe, who were so beaten down that they hardly fought back. (Truth is that a significant few fought back heroically, but most did not.)
It's sort of like getting rich in America: shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in three generations. The original Zionists were those who had suffered the "love" of the Europeans. They understood why the Jews had to regain their own nation. They were determined and they eventually succeeded. Reading their history is incredibly inspiring. I know of no other story like it.
Their grand-children don't want to fight, anymore. They are more interested in their standard of living and in aping the American culture. The Zionists have had their day -- it's over. Because, heroic as they were, they were inspired by socialism, not Judaism. They have run out of fire. The true Zionists today are the "right-wing, religious fanatics". The ones who look to a higher power than just the state. They are the ones who choose to live in constant danger, on the front lines, whose children have their legs blown off by their Arab "neighbors" who are willing to die in order to hold the land for Israel.
Gaza was an arid waste land when their government encouraged the Jews to move there. And they "made the desert bloom". They invented drip irrigation, which is now used world-wide. Since the soil had zero nutrients, they learned to put the nutrients into the water. And they learned to make it all work by housing the plants in green houses.
The Arabs, on the other hand, believed that Gaza was cursed and thought the Jews were crazy to try to farm there.
But the present day, secular Israelis are "tired". Now,Ehud Olmert, member of Knesset, said in a speech to an audience in NYC a couple of weeks ago -- that they were tired of making miracles, of winning great victories, tired of great exploits (Entebbe)... (words to that effect -- I'm paraphrasing).
He might as well have said they were tired of surviving.
The left in Israel is even more entrenched than here in the US. They control the press/media, education, the courts. The Israeli supreme court are terribly to the left. And new judges are appointed by the old ones! So the situation is nearly hopeless.
I have a book by Yoram Hazony: THE JEWISH STATE, The Struggle for Israel's Soul. He describes how in the seventies the left even further consolidated their power. They changed the text-books from instilling Jewish pride in the achievements of the Zionists who won the state -- to teaching how rascist they were, how they oppress the "Palestinians", etc.
Just as they are doing here in the States.
So the present generation have no clue about their history or about who they are. And instead of fighting to defeat an enemy who want only their destruction, they feel "guilty" about having to "occupy" the land. Land that they won miraculously in a war they begged their enemies not to force them into, against 4 Arab armies who tremendously outnumbered and outgunned them. And who wanted only to annihilate them.
Instead of a Jewish State as a haven for Jews everywhere, they are taught to idolize "democracy" and to be a nation like all others.
Sure. Tell that to the Arabs.
So now Sharon has given Gaza to (not back to) the terrorists. They will no longer be smuggling in arms (remember the Karin A ship with the 40 tons of arms) Now the Arabs will have a seaport and an airport. They will now be simply "importing" arms.
Already they have amassed arms on a scale and of a level of sophistication that they never before could field against Israel. And now they will strike at Tel Aviv and Haifa and the rest of Israel inside the green line.
And soon they will have a Palestinian state where they can live in peace, side by side with Israel.
Wanna buy a bridge, anyone?
What the "international community" understand is strength and fait accompli.
That's the policy Israel used to pursue and that she needs to return to.
I think Israel is living through one of her (self-imposed) darkest hours.
matis
