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Dr. Aaron Lerner is co-founder of , Independent Media Review and Analysis, an Israel-based news organization which provides an extensive digest of media, polls and significant interviews and events relating to the Israeli-Arab conflict.
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By Dr. Aaron Lerner
July 15, 2005
It is far from clear if the disengagement plan will actually be implemented.
In many respects Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is in a race against time as he pushes to complete the retreat before the retreat coalition breaks up.
After all, there are more fingers on Sharon's right hand than Israeli decision makers who actually buy into the overall logic of his retreat "plan". Instead he is supported by a temporary coalition of self-serving politicians from the Right brought together with Leftists that support Sharon's retreat because they support any withdrawal while they utterly and completely reject the prime minister's stated post-retreat positions,
That said, while it certainly is important for retreat opponents to continue efforts to stop this madness, it would be irresponsible to ignore related issues as well as post-retreat issues.
Mr. Sharon talks of maintaining Israel's control over the security envelope around the Gaza Strip -- including control of all movement, but many key players in his retreat coalition are already doing what they can to undermine Israel's standing on this matter by working to develop monitoring and screening regimens that rely exclusively on the goodwill of the Palestinians and third parties.
Sharon himself is anxious to forfeit control of the Philadelphi Corridor -- the narrow corridor separating between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. And to make matters worse, he wants to unravel the demilitarization of the Egyptian Sinai in the desperate hope that Egypt will reward Israel for this incredible concession by finally acting to stop weapons smuggling from Egypt to Gaza. Mr. Sharon's announcement that the arrangement with Egypt will be brought to the Cabinet and then Knesset for approval makes this issue far from moot.
And while many in the Sharon team have frequently stated that the nature of post-retreat Gaza isn't a major concern, the status of the area vis-a-vis the rest of the world is certainly a critical issue as it drives not only Israel's control of the envelope but also Israel's ability to take action, within the areas it abandons, in order to protect its security interests.
These and other issues are simply too important to set aside until after the retreat.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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