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I don't think it was a mistake

Reader comment on item: Yossi Klein Halevi: Israel's Withdrawal from Gaza a "Disaster"

Submitted by Boris Frenkel (United States), Mar 6, 2008 at 18:17

By no means I am a liberal. However, I believe withdrawal from Gaza was a mistake. I base my opinion on few simple assumptions:

1. Israel does not want to create a unified palestinian state that would include Gaza and West Bank;

2. It will take a long, long, long time to end palestinian violence in the Middle East;

3. Israel does not have strength, primarily political, to end palestinian intifada.

These assumptions let me think that withdrawal from Gaza may help to achieve the following goals:

1. Make Gaza and West Bank politically different, where Gaza is entirely managed by palestinians and West Bank represents a mixture of palestinian and jewish enclaves. This difference inevitably requires different style of palestinian administration, which we actually witness today.

2. Over time the administrative differences may turn into unresolvable conflict. Even today we observe clashes between Hamas and Fatah. In few years we may expect complete separation, which will make the idea of a single palestinian state completely impossible.

3. As a result, again over time, the Gaza strip may become a separate state or will be absorbed by Egipt. However, the West Bank may be absorbed by Israel and nobody will be around to claim Jerusalem as their capital. The key here is not to force palestinians into this option and wait until their separation is complete.

4. The best way to postpone any decision and buy time is to pressure palestinians to end violence before any talks about peace. This goal is totally impossible to achieve, which means the process will go as long as it is needed.

5. Israel should not try to destroy Hamas completely. First of all, it is impossible. Also this organization is needed to maintain and deepen separation with Fatah. The goal here is to keep these two forces in balance, rather to fight either of them to the end.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (11) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
one more step [122 words]yuval brandstetter MDMar 14, 2008 05:56122631
Klein-Halevi overly optimistic about the lessons learned from Gaza [114 words]MHLMar 10, 2008 23:22122332
The "guilty Israeli" may be extinct, but still walks and talks, still filled with hate [124 words]Carl SesarMar 10, 2008 00:48122230
Israel's withdrawal fro Gaza a disaster? [279 words]M.D. AnthonyMar 10, 2008 00:24122226
There is hope [23 words]Yuval Brandstetter MDMar 15, 2008 13:12122226
Why did Sharon, of all people, want to do this? [153 words]Wayne WagnerMar 9, 2008 15:41122182
The Patton Solution [173 words]Don LeeMar 9, 2008 14:18122180
Palestinian terrorism- when will the world wake up? [932 words]gary fouseMar 7, 2008 00:35121955
Palestine Should Be Seen As A Failed Effort [63 words]AnneMMar 9, 2008 16:50121955
I don't think it was a mistake [315 words]Boris FrenkelMar 6, 2008 18:17121927
Israeli post modernism, left wing, liberal, soft heartedness is killing the country [161 words]James BurkeMar 5, 2008 07:17121795

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