Days of surrealism

Surreal images appeared one after the other on TV screens last weekend. While Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was being complimented by world leaders during the U.N. summit in New York, the basic premise of the very same policy he was being praised for was unraveling at a dizzying pace. The newscasts repeatedly aired reports of Sharon’s “victory” speech followed immediately by images from Gaza showing how the doomsday scenarios predicted by disengagement opposers were coming true more quickly than expected. Just as they had warned, the Philadelphi route, which runs along the Gaza-Egypt border, was burst open. Only a few months ago IDF presence along the route was defined as “Israel’s essential security interest” by the very same government that has recently decided to withdraw from it. Moreover, large amounts of weapons began to pour into Gaza earlier than expected, and security officials have already expressed fears that some weapons that may disrupt the current balance, such as anti-aircraft and long-range Katyusha rockets, have also been smuggled into the Strip. Sewage pipe to the sea In accordance with the warnings, and also earlier than expected, it became clear that neither the Egyptian nor the Palestinian Authority security forces would act with resolve and efficiency to close the Gaza-Sinai border. The helplessness of the IDF’s replacements is offering terror organizations a chance to easily infiltrate Sinai and then make their way to Israel across the scantily-protected 200-kilometer (125 miles) long Negev border. Securing this border would cost millions – funds that were supposed to be saved due to the disengagement and then allocated toward infrastructure, education and other worthy causes. Remember? Also, Sharon’s “brave policy” of withdrawal is exposing his country and his people to an array of possible threats to vital infrastructure inside the Green Line - threats categorized by one analyst as “worse than the Qassams.” It turns out that the Israel Water Commission is concerned over the Palestinians’ plans to place a sewage pipe to the sea in northern Gaza, saying this would shut down the desalination plant in Ashkelon and cause the subsequent contamination of nearby beaches. The Commission expressed these concerns prior to the disengagement, but Sharon’s administration ignored them – out of courage, of course. Similar courage could be detected when the government chose to ignore the Water Commission’s previous report from a year ago, in which it warned of disastrous ramifications the abandonment of the northern West Bank would have on entire regions inside the Green Line: Major damage to Israeli water resources in the Gilboa and Beit Shean regions would be caused as a result of the Palestinian plan to utilize the water from the mountain basin, and there is also the threat related to the possible drying up of the northern valleys due to an increase in salt level, which would result in the eradication of agriculture and tourism, among other things. And so Israeli surrealism grows deeper. As the leaders become braver, the citizens have more to be fearful of.

Days of surrealism

While Sharon was being praised in NY, his Gaza pullout policy was unraveling