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Peace Process

Gov?t report: Pullout may make life harder


By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
October 25, 2004

A new government report indicates Israel’s planned withdrawal from Gaza would likely make protecting the nation’s Jews more difficult and increase the burden of caring for the Palestinian Arabs living in the volatile coastal strip.

The report’s conclusions stand in stark contrast to repeated claims by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that quitting Gaza would be the best move for Israel, improving its position both diplomatically and defensively.

Officials from the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as IDF legal experts, prepared the 47-page document and submitted it to Israel’s National Security Council Sunday, just 48 hours before the Knesset was scheduled to hold its first official vote on Sharon’s “disengagement” plan.

‘Occupying’ power

According to the report, under international law Israel would still be recognized as the “occupying” power in Gaza even after withdrawing, due to its intention to maintain tight control over the area’s borders, coastline and airspace.

"We have to be aware that the withdrawal does not exempt Israel from its responsibilities in the regions it evacuated,” the document stated.

The interpretation of international law espoused by the authors of the report is expected to be the same as that adopted by the world following any Israeli retreat. As such, international pressure is not expected to wane despite the one-sided concession.

For the past year, Sharon has made an effort to convince the Israeli people that evacuating all Jews from Gaza would release the nation from the burden of caring for the large and hostile Arab population there.

"Here we see another one of the prime minister's lies being uncovered,” Arutz 7 quoted National Union MK Aryeh Eldad as saying Sunday morning.

The report also notes that withdrawing from Gaza in a unilateral manner would set a dangerous precedent where Israel’s position in Judea and Samaria are concerned.

Sharon, on the other hand, has touted his plan as a means to ensuring Israel maintains control over large settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria, as well as eastern Jerusalem.

[ Ed. Note – The only legally binding international documents concerning the region deed sovereignty over all the biblical land of Israel to the Jewish people, meaning that Israel, in fact, has never been an “occupying” power in Judea, Samaria or Gaza. ]

Impenetrable strip

In addition to failing to relieve Israel of the “burden” of Gaza, withdrawing from the Strip could increase the difficulty of protecting the Jewish citizens of the Negev region, the report goes on to say.

The “Palestinians” can be expected to invite international forces into the Gaza Strip following Israel’s departure, the Israeli officials wrote. Senior European diplomats have already expressed their intent to send military observers, as have the Egyptians.

Muslim terrorists based in southern Lebanon have long utilized the cover offered by international forces stationed there to attack Israel without fear of direct retaliation.

Gaza’s small size coupled with the presence of foreign troops and officials would make IDF anti-terror military operations in the Strip next to impossible without raising the world’s ire.

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