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Peace Process

A victory that led to retreat


By Ryan Jones
June 08, 2004

Thirty-seven years to the day after Israel wrapped up its stunning Six Day War victory, the government of Ariel Sharon decided to retreat from a major chunk of the territory that had been used as a launch pad for attempts to annihilate the Jewish state.

That Sharon played such a key role in helping to conquer the Gaza Strip and Samaria, and that he himself once deemed these areas vital security assets as well as integral parts of Israel’s biblical patrimony seem to no longer matter to the prime minister.

He has by now staked his entire political career, and his legacy, on a plan to initiate unilateral flight from these areas in the face of unrelenting "Palestinian" terrorism.

How is it that Israel was able to defeat the mighty armies of Egypt, but remains unable, after decades, to put out of commission the small and comparatively ill-equipped Gaza-based terror groups?

The notion that Israel has no military answer for these groups is, of course, ludicrous. If America has a military solution to a threat as diverse as Al Qaeda, then Israeli arms are more than capable of routing a localized enemy like Hamas.

As commander of the IDF’s Southern Command, Sharon led an unyielding anti-terror campaign in the Gaza Strip between July 1971 and February 1972.

He used all means at his disposal, including the deportation to Jordan of Palestinian Arab men whose children had stoned Israeli soldiers. During those seven months, 104 terrorists were killed and another 742 arrested.

And it worked. Sharon himself announces in his autobiography that the targeted and well-executed military efforts succeeded in the complete elimination of organized terrorist activity in the Gaza Strip at that time.

"For ten years afterward there was no terrorism in Gaza; it was completely peaceful." (Warrior, page 261)

But it was the "will to fight these people [the terrorists] and destroy them," and not reckless retreat, which resulted in a Gaza Strip where people could lead quiet, prosperous lives during the 1970s, Sharon pointed out.

What has really defeated Israel in Gaza and northern Samaria – the two areas from which the initial retreat is set to occur - is the nation’s fear of international criticism. While Israel is capable of bombing into oblivion the Gaza terrorist infrastructure, it is scared stiff of the worldwide reaction to doing so.

Whereas in the past, Sharon and the rest of the Israeli leadership were more concerned with ensuring that a Jew was able to live in peace and security in any part of his God-given homeland, their priorities now lie in tickling the sensibilities of world leaders like George W. Bush.

And so, instead of securing its people by defeating terror, Israel is to flee before it, signaling to the Arabs, whether Sharon recognizes it or not, that a combination of low-level violence and international sympathy for the "Palestinian" cause will eventually achieve what full-scale invasion could not.

Clearly, this re-gathered, physically reconstituted nation has yet to realize that when it comes to doing the right thing, when it comes to administering its right to this land, there is only an audience of One.

Fortunately, some in Israel, like National Religious Party chief Effi Etiam, do get it:

"We have another partner in these decisions, the Master of the Universe. We must show the Master of the Universe that we are willing to sacrifice ourselves for the Land of Israel and He will help us."

The prophet Zephaniah writes:In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:"Do not fear; Zion, let not your hands be weak. The LORD your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save." (Zephaniah 3:16)

Through Jeremiah God says, "Do not fear, O Jacob my servant, for I am with you; for I will make a complete end of all the nations to which I have driven you…" (Jeremiah 46:28)

And speaking through the prophet Isaiah, God tells Israel to "fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you…" (Isaiah 41:10)

If this is so, and it most certainly is, does it really matter what Washington thinks?

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