Ariel Sharon has succeeded in directing a new comedy, deceiving friend and foe that he had received approval from the Israeli government for the revised “disengagement plan” after much supposed effort and painful concessions. As if he had accomplished the impossible!
A number of observers and political analysts with differing political views thought in the past few days that Sharon had fallen into a ministerial crisis that could cost him his job, forgetting that Israel has a way of deceiving, evading, twisting facts and lying to friends as well as enemies.
Sharon’s actions since he announced his disengagement plan: Traveling to Washington to obtain American promises followed by the rejection of the Israeli government of the plan and claims that Sharon faced a crisis, the modification of the plan and the claims concessions were made in order to gain the approval of the Israeli government — all these were part of a meticulous Israeli tactic to gain time and land, to pressure Palestinians and force them to make even more concessions.
To measure the accuracy of this analysis, let us quickly review the modified plan: The renamed “Modified Disengagement Plan, Basic Principles” calls for the dismantling of 400 settlements on the West Bank (just as in the original plan) and confirms that Israel will permanently retain some land in the West Bank — this is the only new part.
The concessions are (a) that no official announcement of the abandonment of settlements will be issued before March 2005 and (b) that Sharon will first get approval from the Cabinet at each stage of the withdrawal and whenever any settlement is to be dismantled and (c) that a government committee be formed to analyze and put into place the criteria that determine which settlements will be dismantled and compensation for the inhabitants. The amended plan states that the vote carried out by the government does not count as a green light for the actual dismantling of settlements. Netanyahu who strongly objects to the plan said that the opposition had achieved all its demands as they related to the disengagement when it was agreed that no decision would be made regarding the abandonment of settlements. Sharon’s plan is thus merely a declaration of intentions. It is a fresh maneuver aimed at wasting all efforts to find peace and give Israel time to grab more Palestinian land.
Sharon’s plan — or more correctly his farce — is not only immoral; it also aims at creating an Arab-Arab confrontation that will destroy many Palestinians’ hopes. In an incongruous statement, the US administration demanded that Egypt and Jordan be made responsible for Israel’s security. This would effectively create conflict between Egyptians and Palestinians as well as between Jordanians and Palestinians.
Confirming this, Sharon recently told the Knesset Foreign and Security Affairs Committee that his modified plan was in four stages to include a Jordanian presence in the north of the West Bank where four settlements will be abandoned. Egypt will have a similar role in the Gaza strip. Such a handover to Egypt and Jordan of all security issues means that they would be involved in real confrontations with Palestinians. Meanwhile, neither Egypt nor Jordan has announced their acceptance of Sharon’s suggestions.
With the utmost honesty we can say that Israel doesn’t want any of these suggestions nor does it want to pull out of Palestinian land; it wants to remove all Palestinians. Israel rejects peace as it destroys all its craving for land, which it declares is a right from the Torah that they cannot concede.
Sharon is playing a role that has been meticulously drawn for him for this stage in the Israeli conflict in order to gain more Arab land. Sharon will be gone after he implements his plan and another will come in his stead to continue the Israeli crusade that contravenes all concepts of peace. The extremist, terrorist, Zionist ideology still dreams of a Greater Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates. The question is: Can Israel achieve this dream? Let the Zionist leaders and their allies read their history books. History doesn’t lie.
