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Inside Israel

Back to reality


By Ryan Jones
September 21, 2005

With the unprecedented experiences of Jews uprooting their own and the international community embracing a once ostracized Israeli warrior all but a memory, the world returned Tuesday to the business of birthing a Palestinian Arab state on ancient Jewish lands.

Israel had hoped its ?disengagement? from Gaza and northern Samaria would buy it some respite from the headlong diplomatic rush for Palestine, or at the very least grant it license to retain control over major Jewish population centers in Judea and Samaria.

Those hopes were bolstered by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's warm welcome at the United Nations last week.

But on Tuesday, the world body known as the Quartet ? comprised of the United States, European Union, Russia and the UN - the driving force behind the Road Map peace plan, signaled Israel it was mistaken on both accounts.

Following a get together in New York, UN Secretary General Koffi Annan insisted Israel's surrender of Gaza would not be its last major concession.

?For us, the Quartet, it's Gaza first and then the next stage will be the West Bank, not Gaza first and Gaza last,? Annan told reporters after the meeting.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice indicated the international community expects the next pullout to come in short order.

?Our task now is to build on the momentum of [last month's] withdrawal,? she said.

Israel for its part insisted any further progress towards an agreement with the ?Palestinians? would depend on the Palestinian Authority eliminating the threat of anti-Jewish terrorism and displaying effective control over Gaza.

?If they want Gaza to be first, and not last, then this experiment must succeed,? a government spokesman told The Jerusalem Post.

And while Israel was thanked for going ?beyond its obligations under the first phase of the Road Map? in the areas covered by the disengagement, the Quartet in an official statement took strong issue with the Jewish state over ?settlement expansion elsewhere.?

Dealing with the remaining questions in Gaza is ?the easy business,? British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said. ?We've then in the West Bank area got the issue of the extension of settlements.?

Israel has started building new homes in large Jewish towns such as Ma'aleh Adumim and Ariel, areas Sharon vows will remain part of Israel under any final status agreement with the PA.

Rice, turning back to her desire for greater momentum, urged Israel to drop its efforts to have Hamas disqualified from January's PA parliamentary election.

Sharon last week told reporters in New York he would purposely hinder polling if Hamas was not first either disarmed or denied the right to participate in government.

The PA's allowing Hamas to field candidates is a violation of its signed agreements with Israel.

But Rice said democracy is still developing in the PA-controlled territories, ?and I think we have to give the Palestinians some room for the evolution of their political process.? Though she did agree ?there is a fundamental contradiction between armed activities and the political process.?

As far as the PA and Hamas are concerned, however, the issue is settled, and the terror group will run for office in its present incarnation, fully armed.

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