Considering Disengagement

Reuven Koret at Israel Insider has a great article up at his site: Disengaging from delusion. He asks what we will get in return for this "disengagement":

If our reward would be never needing to send our soldiers to defend us or having our citizens never again die in terrorist attacks, or (remember when people talked about that?) true peace - that price may be worth considering. But of course no one is expecting or promising this.

On the contrary, we can expect to get more of the same, with less ability to defend ourselves, with transportation routes, army facilities and defensive positions in enemy hands. And we can expect the Israeli weakness at the top that led to this inexplicable cave-in to invite only more terrorism and diplomatic pressure.

That's what happened after Ehud Barak fled from Lebanon. Now southern Lebanon is lined with hundreds of missiles, some capable of bearing chemical warheads, which for the first time put Haifa and points south in range.

No one disputes that Gaza and northern Samaria will become armed camps, refuges of terrorists and repositories of weapons. Except Israel will have waived its ability and right to re-enter and clean up these terror nests in any significant way.

If there was a chance that this is the final price we will be expected to pay to achieve de facto or de jure annexation of Gush Etzion, Gush Ariel, the Jordan Valley, Jewish Hebron, the Jerusalem envelope - that at least would be a calculation that reasonable people could evaluate for its costs and benefits.

I think the key point is that it may be possible that some form of evacuation of Jewish communities in Israel may be justified, as part of a larger package that would bring us the greatest good. But, that's not what is up for vote.

Say the following plan was being proposed: Evacuate Netzarim and Kfar Darom, and the four towns slated for removal in Shomron. Build a security fence only around that area in Shomron, and separating Gush Katif from the rest of Gaza. Offer stipends to the evacuated Jews, and offer incentives to help settle them and other Jews in Hebron, Bet Lechem, or eastern Jerusalem. Annex all the remaining land. This will lower the number of Arabs included in this annexation by about 2.5 million. As for the areas from which we "disengaged," make it a real disengagement. No more supplying the residents with Israeli electricity, water, and employment. No travel in and out of those areas. Any Arab who does not want to live under Israeli rule can go to the "disengaged" areas - a free one-way ticket. Even though the idea of destroying Jewish communities in Israel is repulsive to me, I would probably support this plan.

However, that is not what is being proposed. Instead, over 8,000 Jews will be expelled from their home. The plan does not say if they will be compensated, or where they will go. The beautiful homes they once called their own will be taken over by terrorists. Those terrorists will be able to keep their jobs in Israel, commuting in and out of Israel every day. Israel will not be able to stop any further terrorist activity in Gaza; it will be off-limits to the IDF. But it will not be off limits to Hamas, Hizbollah, and Al-Qaeda. President Bush may have recognized that "facts have changed" regarding major Jewish areas of Yesha. But we are not planning on annexing them. Maybe we will try in a few years, but who will remember Bush's "recognition" at that point? In fact, the security fence will still exclude many tens of thousands of Jews. Instead of Homesh and Sa-nur, with only a few hundren residents, being the last of our destructions in Shomron, they will be the first, paving the way for the destruction of towns of thousands which are also beyond the fence: Beit El, Shiloh, Ofra.

The plan being presented is not a whole plan; it is a half a plan, and it's the half where we get screwed. Anyone voting on this plan needs to be asking the question: what are we getting in return, and what is the message we are sending? Anyone living in Israel who is not eligible to vote on this plan should take this opportunity to join the Likud party. Manhigut Yehudit has been trying for years to get believing Jews to join the Likud, in order to have a real voice in influencing the policiies of the state. They never imagined how on-target they would be: for better or for workse, the future of the state is up to the members of the Likud party. Go to the Manhigut Yehudit site here to get a Likud registration form. And of course, anyone not living in Israel: if you've been reading this blog, you know what to do.