Opinion
Gaza achievement wasted
Gilad Sharon
Published: 29.05.07, 19:18
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27 Talkbacks for this article
1. Switch off Aza's water: Kassams = No water
Leiboweicz ,   Vienna   (05.29.07)
2. Kadima?
ed ,   London UK   (05.29.07)
The leadership you refer to Mr Sharon, is presumably the party you voted for, Kadima?
3. Gaza Disgrace
zvi ,   USA   (05.29.07)
I hate to say it but this Gaza withdrawal was probably one of the worst decision’s any government in Israel(excluding the Oslo Process) has made. Israel military deterrence has worsened. The political outcome was an even greater disaster-Instead of trying to negotiate something in return for giving up parts of our land -the world sees us more then ever as occupiers that rightfully had to flee the land. And finally the treatment, past, present and probably future, of the former hard working residents of the community has been a disgrace to the government and people of the land that has also caused a tremendous rift among the people.
4. Why Mr. Sharon Is an Amazing Writer...
Milt Trazenfeld ,   NYC USA   (05.29.07)
Do you know anyone else who can use a keyboard while handcuffed?
5. Why Is Gilad Sharon Still Talking?
MK ,   Philadelphia, USA   (05.29.07)
The only reason this moron had any position at all was due to his father, who left Israel in the worst state ever, with the biggest retards in the world infecting the Knesset. At the very least, Gilad should go take care of his father and stop trying to act as if he knows what he's doing. Ariel Sharon was a great leader and he was a great strategist - until he decided to go against everything that he had stood for to become a darling of the idiot left. I have no more stomach for anything "Sharon" and certainly not for his weasely kid.
6. gaza disgrace
a worker   (05.29.07)
whats this jbird talking about the pm before this one wasn't any better, but he got a lot of money and you did too for you people money is more important than the lives of the people os just take the money and shut up
7. Leave Gilad Alone!
nell ,   switzerland   (05.29.07)
I really wonder about you people. You are trying to run innocent green crossers, you shout when I move my cart before yours at the supermarket, but if I stumble there are like 200 helping. Sabra at its best! So leave a journalist be a journalist and give him some space ... independent of his family ties. Thank you!
8. Who let this looser escape?
LEE ,   NY, USA   (05.29.07)
9. Respond to his points, not his location
Alan ,   Chicagoff   (05.30.07)
You dudes who diss this guy need to start listening to the content of his speech not the place where he resides. He made some good points. Mainly, leaving Gaza gave us the freedom to respond to terror but the current leadership fails to do so effectively. So what is effective? Turning off electricity is appropriate and effective. There is no human right to air conditioning. There is no law Jews must sell terrorists electricity. If that does not work within two days, have you heard of four inch shells? When Gaza City looks like Berlin 1945, there will be no more rockets. This was the freedom of operation which our current leaders are too timid or clueless to implement.
10. Wait at least a year before rewriting history
Eliyahu   (05.30.07)
Sorry bro', but the destruction of Gush KAtif is the direct cause of the war in Lebanon, the upscaling of rockets on Sderot, and the upcoming inevitable war however many fronts it ends up being fought on. Denying that before the dust clears is pushing the level of implausibility, even for an Israeli news source. What could be the cause? Settlers over the green line? Let's face it. Left wing politicians used the good intentions of the electorate to further their own personal, greed driven, agendas. And now we are paying the price.
11. For the first time we have someone with a bit of......
Yoav Naor ,   Haifa Israel   (05.30.07)
I have read a few of Gilad's articles and he comes on as an astute writer. Who seems to have a first hand knowledge of the situation that exists in Israel.As compared to some armchair strategists from Philadelphia,who waffles on.
12. To Zvi: Leaving Was No Disgrace
Dave Levy ,   Burbank. CA USA   (05.30.07)
From the states, I ask, "why was leaving a disgrace"? 2 brigades to guard 8,000 settlers growing tulips and hybred tomatoes to sell to Europe? This could have been done in the Negev..okay, so the view of the Med. was nice, giving people a chance to swim. Pools can accomplish the same. with trucked in sea (salt) water. Having Nahals in the Strip would have been preferred or just IDF enclaves for security. Who cares what the UN thinks anyway? As far as world opinion, it's 99 to 1 against Israel no matter. Israel has no oil, the Arabs do, and lots more potential, besides the latent anti-Semitism from WW2. Israel must understand, and get out of it's denial about everything. I've known that for years. We Jews will always not be liked, it's just a fact of life. The Kassams: hit Gaza with a few good artillery rounds...maybe take out a square mile area. That should do it..and don't fret the fall out. Oh, get rid of Livni ASAP. Shes boring and is a poor poker player on the world's stage. Doesn't fool anyone.
13. Don't Listen to Condi, Shes on Her Way Out
Dave Levy ,   Burbank. CA USA   (05.30.07)
Sharon is saying what many in Israel and the Disapora have been thinking, why all the to do about Gaza? The IDF was guarding 8,000 with 8,000 soldiers, and taking a toll. 22 settlements growing tulips and tomatoes was unnecessarily a provocation of a hostile, angry, Jew hating people. So why the bother and trouble. Sderot and the Western Negev are something different. He is right, Kassams were there prior to the disengagement, as were rockets falling elsewhere in Israel. Okay, so find jobs and homes for the 8,000 and move on., we are doing with 2m lives disrupted by Katrina. Israel will survive. But having no answer to simple Kassams, bothers me. What if Syria or Iran sends Scuds/Shihabs, what then? I would tell Olmert and Peretz to simply fire back...cut off electricity for a week Let their chickens and fish spoil. Get to their stomachs. That will send a message to these barbarians. You play with fire (Kassams) and rejoice, okay, you get burned. Israel is too introspective about everything. Just do it and forget it. And forget Condi, shes moot.
14. sheer patheticness
elchonon ,   jerusalem   (05.30.07)
You say we are not prepared to pay the gaza cost yet we are prepared to defend sedorot no matter the cost... Thats where your brain blacks out.. gaza is israel.. we are in the hole we are in now because of you and your father... you should be in jail!
15. genetic inability to tell the truth
mordechai ,   jerusalem   (05.30.07)
Sharon now claims that everyone knew the shooting would continue after the withdrawl. Arik Sharon actually claimed the opposite, that the pull out would bring peace and quiet.
16. Then why did we leave Alei Sinai?
Ilan ,   Ariel   (05.30.07)
The communities in the northern part of Gaza were because of a deliberate policy of creating a buffer between Sderot and Ashkelon. Even during the disengagement many pointed this out, and the fact that these communities were contiguous to the '48 lines. We could have (and should have) annexed those areas long ago. The missiles now are only one part of the price of disengagement. The fact that worthless politicians used it as fast track to popularity with the help of a political and fawning journalism is another facet of this disaster.
17. only Olmert prevents Sharon from being the worst PM ever
aaron ,   ra'anana   (05.30.07)
the unilateral retreat and self immolation of gaza was a victory to the arabs and a self-inflicted defeat to the jewish people and western civilization.
18. SDEROT
SAM ,   NEW YORK   (05.30.07)
NO ONE HAS A MAGIC SOLUTION? PROBLEM IS THAT SO MANY LOOK FOR MAGIC . TELL YOUR "LEADERS" THAT WAR IS NOT WON BY MAGIC. IMAGINE THAT PALESTINIANS HAVE THE WEPONS OF ISRAEL AND ISRAEL THE WEPONS OF PALESTINIANS
19. #4, #6, #8 he's innocent!
yosef ,   tel aviv   (05.30.07)
You guys forget that Gilad was never charged with anything Daviv Appel paid Gilad $3 million for "advice". The police investigated Gilad and Edna Arbel recommended indicting Gilad. Ariel Sharon appointed Menni Mazuz to be the Attorney General instead of Edna Arbel. Mazuz decided there was no reason to even prosecute Gilad.
20. 17: No Aaron, Olmert also has Bibi and Barak to thank
David ,   Rehovot   (05.30.07)
21. 16: Ilan, you suggest human shields
David ,   Rehovot   (05.30.07)
and that's as pathetic as the Pals. It isn't right to take citizens, regardless of how ignorantly fanatical they are, and stick them out to get attacked so Ashkelon doesn't. We pulled out because: 1) It didn't make moral sense for 8,000 people to control 20% of an area with more than a million people 2) It saved the lives of more of our people, both IDF and civilian 3) It is helping prove to the world that the only "occupation" that matters to our enemies is Israel's existence.
22. To Sam: New York, Right On, Thumbs Up
Dave Levy ,   Burbank. CA USA   (05.30.07)
To Sam #18: you are right on the mark. IF THE PALs had tanks, artillery and fighter bombers, don't we all think they would bomb Tel Aviv on down? It's a sure as the Yankees losing the series to the Met. Israel seem perplexed at what to do now? Whether Bibi, or Olmert, or Barak, or Peres or Sharon, or Peretz..there ARE simply no easy answers. This is not WW2, when we bombed Germany and Japan to ruins. It could be, but won't be done to the Pals. Israel should have rachet up the misery for the Arabs..commensurate with their violence, An eye for an eye may work here. Abba Eban noted that violence is a way of life in the M.E. He was right. The Arabs are barbarian..sending their kids on suicide missions for Allah and 72 virgins (in hell). It's just the way it is. Israel's victory in 67 ended some, but created other problems. Israel should try and recruit 1m more people to live there...and help out. That would relieve some of this pressure, I believe.
23. To Alan #9. Yes Indeed
Dave Levy ,   Burbank. CA USA   (05.30.07)
To Alan: I don't know why Olmert and Livni are so afraid and reluctant to hit the Pals hard (er)? Cutting off electricity air conditioning will only make them madder, and generators might be smuggled in. Four inch shells fired by thousands of artillery pieces would effectively destroy their cities, perhaps starting with Gaza, and working south. I was for the withdrawal (1st) from Lebanon and the Strip, and still believe it was better for Israel. Sooner or later, the Pals would be more aggressive anyway, using Kassams, Katys and GRADs. Israel seems stuck between the Med.and the Jordan River (rock and hard place). It should not re-occupy, nor can it let things just get more out of hand. It's sort of like Iraq in miniature., but not a civil war conflict. Hurting the Pals collectively might backfire. My solution: go after their militants more aggressively, take some of the wraps off, In other words, they aren't suffering enough, Jimmy Carter not withstanding. And heavens name, don't forewarn them of pending strikes...as Gilad wrote: just do it. Israelis think too much and act too little.
24. Now the human shields are in Ashkelon, next withdrawl?
Ilan ,   Ariel   (05.30.07)
We can continue to withdraw until we have to go back to Europe or whatever, It is infantile to suggest that no one will be on the border. At least the communities of in Northern Gaza were willing pioneers, were engaged in agriculture so that their fields were the buffer, and were relatively sparsely populated in comparison with Sderot and Ashkelon. I've had my fill with silly revisionists who have to re invent a set of events to defend their actions.
25. to 20. despite demagougery, Bibi best PM in last 20 years..
aaron ,   ra'anana   (05.31.07)
26. withdraw into the sea?
andy ,   orlando,fl   (06.01.07)
maybe Israel should evacuate into the sea if the rockets extend their range.then the arabs would be happy.
27. Aaron, that's what's fun about opinions
David ,   Rehovot   (06.04.07)
That you might think so is sad, but you're welcome to your opinion. His demagoguery was only one of his problems. His appalling neo-con economics were almost as damaging as Labor's policies on the other side. Rabin was probably the best in the last 20 years, not least of which is that he started economic liberalization (see, "liberal" 'aint always bad...). I guess we'll just have to cancel each other out in the next election...
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