28 Days to Go – Remembering Leaving Gaza.

By Sherwin Pomerantz

Earlier today, 28 days to the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York, Israel buried eight of its citizens, victims of yesterday’s terrorist attack close to the Egyptian border. As I write this the words of the grandfather of Staff Sgt. Moshe Naftali, z’l, killed in the attack still ring in my ears when he said at the funeral on Mt. Herzl here in Jerusalem: “I just want to kiss him one more time.” Should any grandfather, or parent, have to witness this kind of a burial and especially for this reason?

Six years ago this week the State of Israel evacuated 1,700 families from the Gaza Strip in an effort to disengage from that area which contained 1.4 million Palestinian Arabs. The period was one of extreme angst within Israel and the decision by then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was made even though a referendum on the subject showed that the 65% of the population who voted was against the move. The intent was to bring these families back into “Israel proper” as it were and no longer be involved with regular skirmishes with the Palestinian Arab community in the strip. The hope was that the area would then be run by the local leadership and Israel, having evacuated the region, would have no more political problems with it.

Of course, that was not to be the case. The local population went on a rampage right after Israel finally left the region on September 11th as the last Israeli soldier locked the gate at the Kissufim Crossing behind him and lowered the Israeli flag from its stanchion. The hothouses left by Israeli and purchased for the benefit of the Palestinians by former World Bank President James Wolfensohn were destroyed as was every vestige of the Israeli presence in Gaza. The later election of Hamas and its takeover of the strip then generated an ongoing barrage of rockets into Israel until the advent of Operation Cast Lead in December 2008.

So the withdrawal from the settlements of Gaza did not give Israel any more peace than the withdrawal of our forces from south Lebanon in 2000 under the Premiership of Ehud Barak. Neither border has been quiet and secure and one can only surmise that Israel’s withdrawal for nothing in return ended up being inimical to our long term desire to survive and thrive in this land.

For those who continue to wonder why Israel is so adamant about not granting statehood to the Palestinians except as a result of direct, face-to-face negotiations aimed at declaring an end to the conflict, these two situations should provide sufficient proof of the failure of unilateral action when it comes to Middle East politics.

The question remains: Why doesn’t the world understand this? Or is the world’s seeming support for the proposed UN resolution just the next act in history’s longest running drama dealing with the indestructible Jews? And if so, will there ever be a happy ending as the curtain comes down on the last act? We need to help that along and understand the role each of us personally can play in this drama. Please, write to the UN delegates now and urge them to vote no and do it soon!! History is calling us once again and we dare not be silent.