Reading Sharon's Mind

Submitted by Lisa Michelson (United States), Dec 23, 2003 at 13:06

When I heard Sharon's speech my knee-jerk reaction was anger and disappointment. I wondered how Sharon, of all people, could give up our settements in Samaria and Judea. So I began to think and come up with plausible reasons.

The Palestinian Authority has exceptionally good public relations. So good in fact that now the world feels sorry for a people who have lost a country; a country they never had, a country that never existed. The world feels sorry for a people who were displaced by war; the Palestinians. Never mind the fact that the majority of Arabs that left Israel during the War of Independence left of their own volition or at the request of Arab rulers. Never mind that while Arabs lived in the British Mandated Palestine they did not refer to themselves as Palestinians but rather as Arabs (the Jews called themselves Palestinians) because they felt no special connection to that particular piece of land. Never mind all of this, and more. The bottom line is so long as there is a people who refer to themselves as Palestinians they will fight to destroy Israel and kill all the Jews.

Sharon is condemned for retaliating against Palestinian terror attacks because she is fighting a "poor, homeless, displaced people". If Sharon removes settlements for their own physical safety, draws a line in the sand and says to the Palestinians 'you cannot go beyond this line' and allows a Palestinian country to be created this allows Sharon certain other options. If the PA, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Tanzanim, etc. attack Israel under the guise of a viable country THEN Israel can react without the same world condemnation. Israel would not be responding to to a "homeless people" but rather as one country being attacked by another country. Israel can repsond to terrorism just as the U.S. has responded. The Palestinians should be careful what they wish for. An independent country means self responsibility and we all know how the Palestinians rely on Israel to provide for their daily lives. Israel would no longer do that; they will be on their own. They will be held accountable to their actions and if they continue to attack Israel, Israel will have the full right to defend herself against attacks from a foreign country.

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