The settlers have lost. Their dreams are over. The Jewish soldiers did not refuse to obey orders; the Israeli people did not rise up; the demonstrations ultimately failed to sway the government and the majority of Israelis remained firm supporters of the decision to withdraw from Gaza. Most of the 21 settlements are now virtually deserted. The orderly, smooth and quick disengagement belies the scenes of wailing and defiance by some settlers that TV and the sensation-seeking media like to zoom in on. The settlers should be so lucky, given the constraints shown to them by their troops — and with up to $500,000 in their pockets as compensation. There might have been emotional scenes of settlers leaving their homes — nothing of course compared to Palestinians when their homes are destroyed by Israeli bulldozers — but they are leaving not their land but someone else’s. They are not doing the Palestinians a favor.
Freeing just five percent of occupied land and involving just 21 of 150 illegal settlements, the Gaza withdrawal is not a marvel or a miracle or a painful concession as the Israeli government and settlers would like for the world to believe. Because Gaza is so unsafe, so barren, so poor, and of no strategic benefit — not to mention that its huge Palestinian population threatens to tip the Jewish demographic scale in Israel — its loss is of no consequence to the Israelis or to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who ensured that the price he had to pay was as low as possible.
Yet Gaza remains in Israeli hands. Despite the amount of deceptive packaging, while the debate goes on over the fate of the rubble of the Jewish settlements, whether Hamas will claim control over Gaza or if President Mahmoud Abbas has what it takes to rein in the organization, Israel has made no effort at all to hide the fact that it will retain control over the borders of Gaza, whether land, air or water.
Equally, it will maintain the right to launch strikes at the strip if Israel or its population should be attacked. Since Hamas has pledged to continue its armed campaign against Israel even after the pullout, so long as Israel declines to forfeit the right it says it has to militarily invade Gaza all over again, there can be no true withdrawal or peace.
It should not be forgotten that Hamas’ spirits have been buoyed, first by the disengagement it says it helped bring about, and by the announcement that legislative elections, in which it is expected to do well, will be held on Jan. 25. Regardless of what Israel has aimed to achieve by disengaging from Gaza and regardless of how the Palestinians wish to interpret the move, the Gaza Strip is still occupied land, consisting of barely 4.5 percent of the overall occupied territories captured in 1967. So while the disengagement has successfully engaged the international media and has created quite a stir within domestic Israeli politics, it is poised to change very little on the ground. Only within the framework of a complete military withdrawal from Gaza and the rest of the occupied territories will a real solution evolve.
