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Peace Process

Sharon seeks support of US Jews, Christians


By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
May 23, 2005

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon arrived in New York City Sunday to seek the support of American Jews and Israel's Christian allies for his plan to uproot the Jewish communities of Gaza and northern Samaria.

His motorcade was met by at least 3,000 protesters decrying the prime minister's intention to submit to Arab demands that these areas be ethnically cleansed of Jews.

Speaking to 1,200 leaders of US Jewish organizations later in the day, Sharon insisted his ?disengagement? was a painful necessity.

Nevertheless, Sharon vowed that ?when it comes to the security of the Israeli citizens, there are not going to be any compromises, not now and not in the future. Never.?

Senior Israeli security officials, however, have cautioned that retreating from Gaza and northern Samaria would do just that.

The period of expected escalation of ?Palestinian? violence following Israel?s retreat has been code named ?Rainy Day? by the IDF, according to a report in HaTzofeh last month.

?Palestinian? terrorists have repeatedly stated that Israel's desire to withdraw from Gaza is seen as nothing less than a victory for more than four years of intensified anti-Jewish violence.

?All indications show that since its establishment, Israel has never been in such a state of retreat and weakness as it is today following more than four years of the intifada,? Hamas leader Ahmed al-Bahar told reporters in Gaza in March.

Colonel Uzi Buchbinder, head of the IDF's Home Front Command's civil defense department, told his Knesset overseers in January that the pullout would pose a direct security threat to 46 Israelis towns in the Negev region that would suddenly be within range of ?Palestinian? rockets.

Ha?aretz defense affairs expert Amir Oren noted last month that ?The prediction [among military officials] is that by next January to March, after Palestinian terror has increased and become more sophisticated, the IDF will return to Gaza.?

That return is expected to cost the lives of many soldiers, as they fight a far more entrenched and well-armed enemy.

Recently ousted General Security Services Director Avi Dichter offered a similar warning regarding the pullout from northern Samaria, noting that terror groups had smuggled missiles into the area for a future assault on nearby Israeli population centers.

In December, Major General (res.) Yaakov Amidror went so far as to say Israel's planned withdrawal would pose a threat to the entire free world.

?The disengagement plan will turn Gaza into the only shelter state in the world for the Al-Qaida organization,? Amidror told the Herzliya Conference.

In Sunday's speech, Sharon also continued to misrepresent a letter he obtained from US President George W. Bush in April 2004, which the prime minister claims lends firm support for continued Israeli control over large settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria in return for the Gaza withdrawal.

?The President's letter,? Sharon said, ?clarified the United States' position on several critical issues for our future:

?Israel's right to defend itself by itself against any threat, and to have secure and defensible borders; the major Israeli population centers in Judea and Samaria will remain part of Israel under any permanent agreement; there will be no return to the 1967 borders; and there will be no entry of Palestinian refugees into Israel.?

But senior US officials have been stating for more than a year that Sharon is either confused or purposely misrepresenting the president's intentions.

Just weeks after he gave the letter to Sharon, Bush clarified in a press conference with Jordan's King Abdullah that he would never unilaterally ?determine the results of the negotiations? between Israel and the PLO.

When Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Israel in February of this year, she told reporters Bush had ?made very clear that everything had to be negotiated, that the final-status arrangements would have to be up to the parties,? and not predetermined by outside agreements.

In March, US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer decided to get frank with Israeli Foreign Ministry cadets.

?Sometimes, an American will end a conversation with the words ?I understand?, and an Israeli will mistakenly take that as an formal Declaration of Understanding,? Ynet quoted Kurtzer as saying.

?But I can assure you that no such understandings were reached. I have discussed the matter with Washington, and I have received full support on this matter.?

Kurtzer's comments caused a diplomatic uproar, and the ambassador quickly moved to claim the Ynet report was full of errors. But correspondent Shimon Shipper noted Kurtzer's quotes were lifted directly from an official Foreign Ministry transcript of the meeting.

Despite these apparent red flags, polls consistently show more than 60 percent of American Jews back Sharon's plan. His hosts Sunday reconfirmed their support.

Evangelical Christian supporters of the Jewish state, meanwhile, have been far less enthusiastic about the withdrawal, citing its violation of biblical principles and mandates.

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