Terror won't scuttle pullout
Whoever thought PM Sharon would change his mind about the disengagement in wake of the renewed terror was mistaken, Shimon Shiffer says
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon got on the phone on Friday and told the heads of the security forces -- Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, Army Chief Lt.-General Dan Halutz and Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin -- to act strongly against those who plan attacks and fire rockets and mortar bombs at Negev desert towns and Gaza settlements.
"You have no limitations," he said. "You all the means we have to stop the escalation on the Palestinian side."
But that's just part of the story. The other part is related to the international struggle to bring calm in the area to ensure the pullout plan is carried out.
Israel is not impressed by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas's earth-shattering cry, which continues to claim that he is weak.
"You cannot keep yelling all day, 'I am weak, I am weak," Sharon told Israel's Channel 2 television on Friday.
Mofaz and the prime minister's closest advisers told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this weekend that they demand to put heavy pressure on Abbas, whose refusal to confront Islamic Jihad and Hamas would make it very difficult to evacuate Gaza and the northern West Bank.
Feeling of urgency
There is no doubt Rice's decision to make an emergency visit to the region, which cuts a planned visit to Africa, is attributed to the feeling of urgency that the Israelis and American envoy to the Middle East, General Ward have given her.
The Americans are involved in Sharon's pullout plan and the fear that scuttling the evacuation of settlers from Gaza and the northern West Bank would add to the reverberating failure of the Americans to stabilize the situation in Iraq has turned into a prime reason for Rice's lightning-fast visit.
Intelligence heads estimate that consolidating forces on the outskirts of Gaza, along with staunch diplomatic efforts to push for the success of the pullout, could bring calm on the security level.
Israel is also working closely with the Egyptians, whose role is to make clear to the heads of the Palestinian factions the severity of the situation. President Hosni Mubarak, as well as U.S. President George W. Bush, has invested in and identifies with Sharon's disengagement plan.
The prime minister has complained in recent days during private conversations not only about Abbas's helplessness, but also the illogical behavior of the terror groups in Gaza. What do they hope to achieve, Sharon asks and answers: As long as they continue to try and harm Israel, they will grow farther from fulfilling their dream of a Palestinian state.
Whoever thought Sharon would change his mind about the pullout in wake of the renewed terror activities was mistaken. Sharon believes evacuating Gush Katif is an Israeli interest whose root lies within the conclusion that in order to stabilize a defensive border, Israel must leave Gaza territory.
Therefore, as Sharon said, with or without terror, Israel will no longer remain in Gaza in a few months.
