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TechnographColumn: It's about time
By Todd Swiss
Posted: 8/23/05 Section: Opinions
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As the Gaza Strip is slowly being evacuated, I breathe a cautious sigh of relief. If all goes as planned, this will be a fantastic move for both Israel and Palestine. Israel will no longer have to use large numbers of troops to police a volatile area and Palestinians will be able to live autonomously for the first time in over three decades. However, there is still a long way to go before peace will be the norm.
Let's face it. Israel setting up ultra-religious and ultra-nationalistic settlements in an area widely populated by Palestinians was a very bad idea. Hindsight may be 20/20, but come on. In the early 70's when settlers began arriving in larger numbers, the area was dominated by Palestinians and their businesses. When the Palestinian population continued to rise in the Gaza Strip, the two very different groups began to clash. Both groups felt threatened by the radically different views held by the other.
When Sharon announced his plan to evacuate the settlements in Gaza, he was criticized by his own people for giving the land to the Palestinians. Members of his cabinet even resigned in protest of the withdrawals. Many Israelis saw this move as rewarding the terrorists or going against what the Torah says about the Jewish Promised Land. But the political and logistical move by Sharon was the correct one. There was no better solution to the multi-faceted problem of defense, stubbornness, and public opinion. The protesters will always scream louder than the people who agree with the controversial move, and Sharon will no longer have to deal with the problem of Israelis being killed by suicide bombers with nothing to lose and the resulting retaliation taken by Israeli troops.
Some settlers wore yellow stars of David as they left, attempting to gain sympathy by trying to draw lines between this evacuation and the events at the beginning of World War II and the Holocaust. While the two events do share the similarity of being forced to leave their homes, there are no other things in common. The settlers are being paid somewhere between $250,000 to $500,000 in compensation to find a new place to stay of their choice. They are allowed to keep their possessions and were not charged in any way for the move. The loss of a home and its memories is surely traumatic, but not even remotely to the extent of the Holocaust. I am sure that none of the settlers are complaining about how they will miss all the barbed wire, security checkpoints with heavily armed guards, or the increasing fear of being killed by a suicide bomber.
Let's face it. Israel setting up ultra-religious and ultra-nationalistic settlements in an area widely populated by Palestinians was a very bad idea. Hindsight may be 20/20, but come on. In the early 70's when settlers began arriving in larger numbers, the area was dominated by Palestinians and their businesses. When the Palestinian population continued to rise in the Gaza Strip, the two very different groups began to clash. Both groups felt threatened by the radically different views held by the other.
When Sharon announced his plan to evacuate the settlements in Gaza, he was criticized by his own people for giving the land to the Palestinians. Members of his cabinet even resigned in protest of the withdrawals. Many Israelis saw this move as rewarding the terrorists or going against what the Torah says about the Jewish Promised Land. But the political and logistical move by Sharon was the correct one. There was no better solution to the multi-faceted problem of defense, stubbornness, and public opinion. The protesters will always scream louder than the people who agree with the controversial move, and Sharon will no longer have to deal with the problem of Israelis being killed by suicide bombers with nothing to lose and the resulting retaliation taken by Israeli troops.
Some settlers wore yellow stars of David as they left, attempting to gain sympathy by trying to draw lines between this evacuation and the events at the beginning of World War II and the Holocaust. While the two events do share the similarity of being forced to leave their homes, there are no other things in common. The settlers are being paid somewhere between $250,000 to $500,000 in compensation to find a new place to stay of their choice. They are allowed to keep their possessions and were not charged in any way for the move. The loss of a home and its memories is surely traumatic, but not even remotely to the extent of the Holocaust. I am sure that none of the settlers are complaining about how they will miss all the barbed wire, security checkpoints with heavily armed guards, or the increasing fear of being killed by a suicide bomber.
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