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Emanuel A. Winston , Middle East analyst and commentator, writes extensively about geo-politics and war, often forecasting coming events in the region of the Middle East, including the relations between Washington and Jerusalem.
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By Emanuel A. Winston
September 13, 2004
One is reminded of the kid who killed his parents and then pleaded for mercy because he was an orphan.
Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is complaining that the protests against his unilateral disengagement may cause a Civil War in Israel -- implying that it would not be his fault. He led his party to victory in a landslide against the Labor Party, which ran on the platform of uniliteral retreat from Gaza. After he suddenly adopted the plan which his voters rejected, and added the planned destruction of settements in northern Samaria, he grudgingly put the issue to a referendum of his Likud Party April 29th, 2004, promising to accept the results of the vote. When he lost, 60% against withdrawal to 40% in favor, he reneged on his pledge.
He later lost another crucial vote during a Likud Party convention. At least half of the 40 Likud members of Knesset oppose the pullout. And yet he will ask his Cabinet to draft legislation for funding the agency which will implement the uprooting of 8,500 men, women and children from their homes, farms, schools, synagogues, businesses, infrastructure and water in Gush Katif, the Israeli settlement bloc in Gaza, expecting it to be approved by the Cabinet on October 24th. By November 3rd Sharon plans to present this legislation to the Knesset.
Ehud Olmert, (former mayor of Jerusalem and deputy Prime Minister) loudly announced that Judea and Samaria were similarly scheduled to be surrendered. A furious Sharon denied this was in his plan. He has adamantly refused to offer any explanation as to why he is retreating from Gaza/Gush Katif and his plans for Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights and Jerusalem.
In these high-handed actions, unrestrained by his prior commitments to the party which selected and the platform in which he ran in the last election, Sharon is inciting a confrontation and cannot claim victimhood as if it wasn't his fault.
Sharon has ignored the warnings of his top generals and intelligence advisors, who have repeatedly told him that terror will get worse and closer when Gaza is occupied by Palestinian and international terrorists like Al Qaeda, who are expected to flood in from outside. Sharon ignored his military and intel experts, insisting that the decision was his alone to make.
Israelis recognize that Sharon is on a short leash held by Washington, ultimately by a State Department which controls America's foreign policy no matter who is President and believes it need to appease the Arab world to ensure access to oil. Gaza is one of the sacrifices expected of Israel -- with more to follow.
But the Jewish people deserve better than a Prime Minister who blames his own people when they object to his political tinkering. Sharon is trying to turn the facts on their head as he blames those who object to his plan of re-partition. It is Sharon who has started the talk of Civil War.
I suspect that not only will soldiers refuse to pull Jews from their homes but many may very well walk over and create a barrier against those who are willing to obey Sharon's orders to drive Jews from their homes.
If there is a Civil War in Israel, the responsibility will be Sharon's alone.
Sharon's newly adopted role as dictator does not go down well for a people who have 56 years of experience fighting for their freedom against hostile Arab Muslims who surround them to create a blooming, successful Jewish democratic state. Once he was among the leading figures who created and defended that state.
Now Sharon is dividing the nation to get his way. His attack on those who do not wish to be driven out of their homes is the underlying reason for the accusations he makes about an imminent Civil War. To avoid such bitter conflict, "The Bulldozer" should leave his seat and leave the decisions to newly elected people who carry out what they promise, not drive in precisely the opposite direction.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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