Thursday, August 18, 2005

Distress in Gaza

It is more than a little chilling to see images of Jews being pulled from their homes and synogogues. Especially by other Jews.

Israeli security forces on Thursday were dragging Jewish activists out of Gaza’s largest synagogue in Neve Dekalim after protestors refused to come out of the building,

A standoff with about 1,500 teenage extremists continued at the synagogue into a second day. Men inside were lying on the floor with arms linked to make it harder for troops to carry them out. Some were throwing water on the faces of the security forces and hitting the soldiers who were trying to remove the protestors with as little force as possible.

True, many were not even Gaza settlers, and quite a few Americans are there to protest. The policy of settling the occupied territories was always fraught with danger, as it was fairly clear even then that the Palestinians would have none of it. Peace needed to be achieved before coexistence. That Sharon - an architect of the settlements - has recognized this is a Nixon goes to China moment. Walling off Gaza and the West Bank and pulling out basically means that Israel is unilaterally imposing the Oslo Accords rejected by Arafat. Israel has always had the ability to move more decisively, but as a civilized people they have shown remarkable restraint. They finally realized that they simply can’t live cheek-by-jowl with savages. In the end, this pullout will save Israeli lives. Whether it saves Palestinian lives is up to the Palestinians. They can murder each other in an orgy of blood, or they can stop blaming the Jews for their own problems and set about the difficult business of governing. Perhaps one day becoming civilized themselves.

Either way, it’s not Israel’s problem any more. Or the settlers’.

Posted by Matt on 08/18 at 08:28 AM
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