A third catastrophe?
Ariel Sharon's decision to evacuate Israeli settlements in Gaza received a mixed reaction. After all, Sharon has never at any point in his life acted with any degree of concern for peace and stability. So what does he want now?
Sharon is scheduled to visit Washington, where he will try to sell this unilateral plan to the US administration. In return for this "concession", the Israeli prime minister will ask Washington to condone Israel's continued occupation of the larger part of the West Bank, and perhaps even contribute to the cost of relocation. The word is out that each departing settler will be paid half a million dollars in compensation.
The media machine of the US pro-Israel lobby will have a field day exonerating Sharon and Israel, what with all the painful sacrifices they are making. Sharon, mind you, has not as much as even delineated a timetable for the relocation of settlers.
Sharon does not mind, of course, if his high-profile designs for Gaza were to turn attention away from the legal and financial scandals surrounding him and his two sons. Sharon, one must not forget, is the godfather of most settlement plans in the occupied territories; from the intensive settlements plan in 1977, to the annexation of lands under Allon's security plan in 1988, to the ghetto schemes of 1994, to the wave of "temporary" settlements created in 2001. His main goal is to keep the so-called security zones in the Jordan valley and west Nablus under Israel's control, and hold on to the early warning stations dotted atop West Bank hills.
By entrapping the Palestinians in the small and enclosed Gaza Strip, Sharon also hopes to see a flare-up in Palestinian infighting. Since most Islamic factions and groups, foremost Hamas, are Gaza-based, there is a chance the Palestinian Authority's grip on the strip may slip. This is exactly why the Palestinians, authority and factions, should remain alert to Sharon's intentions. The next few days are crucial. Unless all the Palestinians deal objectively with this delicate situation, the Arabs may be in for another catastrophe, on the scale of those of 1948 and 1967.
